Social Dynamics of Short-Term Variability in Key Measures of Household and Community Wellbeing in Rural Bangladesh

More frequent data collection, especially when coupled with shorter recall periods, may produce more inclusive reporting, improved capture of intra-seasonal variability, and earlier signals of events that may merit policy or other forms of development intervention. Although there have been survey efforts that have collected a small number of data from rural households on the moderately high basis, to date there have been no significant efforts to collect a broad range of data from rural households with high frequency. The data included in this study was collected through the smartphone-based data collection technique that allowed participants to submit data at various frequencies and with various recall periods, thereby permitting the analysis of the relative merits of more frequent data streams. This study captured data from 480 farmers of northwestern Bangladesh over approximately one year of continuous data on key measures of household and community well-being that could be particularly useful for the design and evaluation of development interventions and policies. While the data discussed here provide a snapshot of what is possible, we also highlight their strength for providing opportunities for interdisciplinary research in the household agricultural production, practices, seasonal hunger, etc., in a low-income agrarian society.

IFPRI1; CSISA; Open Access;

EPTD;