About us
DATA was founded in 1994 as a research consulting firm to applying its technical expertise in support of finding solutions to pressing social and economic challenges in Bangladesh. Its uniqueness as an organization stems from the honest devotion, efficiency, and high quality work of its staff and the prioritization of client satisfaction over profit. DATA was formed by a select group of talents of different discipline and were formerly employed by organizations like International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Save the Children.
These three senior directors have now accumulated over 60 years of collective experience and contributed successfully to much of the critical education system and policies, food security, agriculture, nutrition and poverty alleviation policy research conducted in Bangladesh. Very few organizations in Bangladesh have devoted themselves to the collection and management of quality data for understanding the underlying socioeconomic issues in the country. People at DATA are committed to such an effort using state-of-the-art survey methodologies and employing highly technical data management systems. This has been the key for DATA’s success over the three decades helping to produce many excellent research outputs that dealt with critical issues relating to education policies, health and educational achievements of the people in the country, food-security and agricultural policies, and under nutrition and poverty alleviation programs.
Over the years, DATA has carried out numerous cross section as well as panel surveys in Bangladesh, including detailed household and institutional surveys, administered tests, randomized control treatments, anthropometry surveys, waste and blood sample collection, community surveys, village level household census, detailed household surveys. Almost all of DATA’s surveys have an impact in policy level research.
DATA has a highly skilled group of staff who perform database management and statistical analysis. Analysts at DATA are efficient in conducting various types of statistical analysis that range from simple descriptive tables to highly technical multivariate analysis. Over the years these analysts have gained vast experience in handling household- and institutional-level data related to educational programs, and thus, are conversant with various issues and aspects of data collection, management and analysis. DATA has built a network of consultants in multiple fields over the past three decades and maintains regular communication regarding the world of surveys and research.
DATA has the necessary physical facilities and logistical support to implement its assignments with efficiency and on time. Besides modern office equipment and communication facilities, it has a project-related reference library, a data bank, and a reprographics unit. DATA has a fully developed computer section with all the necessary hardware and software and has well-qualified instructors who carry on upgrading the skills of the data entry operators on a regular basis. Data analysis is done by professional data analysis team. Computers are connected through a LAN (local area network) system that enables fast and efficient data management. It also has a variety of spreadsheet and statistical software that are essential for data management.
DATA has a regular pool of about 1000 male and 1000 female qualified and experienced field investigators and supervisors who are available for conducting quantitative and qualitative socioeconomic surveys on a short notice of two weeks. DATA believes that their enumerators are the most essential contributors of their success throughout the years and DATA recommends their experience in higher education, job migrations, and promotions.
Moreover DATA provides a one stop solution for their clients’ data needs; from translations to data collection, and cleaning and analysis to report generation. DATA is present on a holistic level. Motivated to generate insights that fuel educated policies and encourage research. DATA is uniquely qualified to manage surveys in Bangladesh given their survey portfolio and capacity. No other firm has experience in managing more than 150 policy level research aimed survey and with so many international clients. Almost all of DATA’s surveys have impacted development research on a policy level. DATA’s excellent reputation has earned them contract from various international organization including the World Bank, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the World Food Programme (WFP), Cornell University, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA), Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy (Tufts SNSP), IRIS Center at the University of Maryland, University of Sydney, Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex, ODI-UK, University of Bonn (ZEF Bonn), University of Waikato, and University of Bath.