AidData Frequently Asked Questions

At AidData, we do our best to provide users with comprehensive and timely answers to questions about our operations and data. Here are the answers to some of the more frequent questions we receive. If you question is not listed below, feel free to email our staff at info@aiddata.org.

What is AidData?

AidData attempts to capture the universe of development finance, increase the value of data by providing more descriptive information about development activities, provide data in an accessible format, and strengthen efforts to improve donor and recipient strategic planning and coordination. The AidData team is building an easy-to-use, comprehensive, and timely resource describing the universe of development finance project-by-project, including all grants and loans committed by all major bilateral and multilateral aid donors. Current data on development finance lacks timeliness, depth, and comprehensiveness. Better data will help increase aid targeting and coordination, and it will enable better measurement and evaluation of aid effectiveness. AidData is currently developing a publicly-accessible interface that will enable researchers, field workers, and policy makers interested in development finance to access detailed project level data in order to increase transparency, accountability, and effectiveness.

Who is behind AidData?

The AidData team includes scholars in economics, political science, sociology, and computer science, development practitioners, and NGO researchers. This diverse staff is based out of Development Gateway in Washington, DC, the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA, and Brigham Young University in Provo, UT. More information is available on our contact page.

Is AidData a database?

Although information forms the core of AidData, AidData is not strictly a database. Rather, AidData is a portal to information for development practitioners, scholars, journalists, and citizens as well as an aggregator of data on development finance flows. In other words, AidData as free web-based application and institution that allows users to access data, research, networking tools, visualization tools, and other information surrounding development activities. We are continually adding new features to help users like you make the most of the underlying data and information. To submit your ideas for how to improve AidData’s functionality, write us at info@aiddata.org.

Do you include NGO or private aid?

Not yet. In the future, AidData will cover private flows such as those originating from non-governmental organizations and private foundations. However, at the moment AidData only contains information on funds that originated from governments. These include both bilateral donors, like the United States, and multilateral donors like the World Bank who use money from sovereign governments to fund their projects. If you are affiliated with an NGO and would like to include project-level information on your development activities to AidData, please contact us at info@aiddata.org

How does AidData avoid double counting? What about duplicates? Aren't some of the donors you've gathered data for already included in the CRS?

The records in AidData go through a process we call "best of breed." Data on many development activities are available from multiple sources. To avoid including a given activity from more than one source and to ensure that our data can be reliably used for statistical analysis, AidData staff carefully review all data sources and select the most detailed and complete one to publish to the AidData portal.

How are implementing agencies counted?

Implementing agencies are listed in the implementing agency field. In many cases, this information was unavailable. It is important to note that some donors can also function as implementing agencies.

How can I find out more about the source(s) of your data?

More detailed information about each of our data sources is available in the Codebook and Users guide. You can download this document in PDF form.

I found an error in the data, how can I best provide feedback to the AidData staff?

AidData is constantly being updated and improved. While we have taken significant care to ensure that this dataset is as error-free as possible, AidData is still a beta product. Please report any errors – large or small – to info@aiddata.org with "[AidData ERROR]" in the subject line.

How often do you update your data?

The data is continually updated. However, thanks to user feedback, we will also periodically make "research releases" of the data available for download. These snapshots of the data will make studies that use AidData easier to cite and replicate. See our research releases here.

How do I download the entire dataset?

You can download one of our research releases.

Why can't I open the entire dataset in excel?

Programs such as Excel are not designed to handle large amounts of information. Excel in particular has a row limit of roughly 65,000; AidData contains almost 1 million. We advise either using our search interface to select only the subset of records you are interested in, or using statistical software such as Stata or SAS meant to handle larger datasets. If the file size becomes a problem, dropping the descriptive fields will significantly reduce the size of the download.

What is your relationship to the OECD?

AidData has no formal relationship with the OECD. A large portion of the project-level information from DAC donors in AidData is provided by the OECD's Creditor Reporting System. OECD remains the source of official statistics on OECD donors. The OECD also forms part of the Aid Effectiveness Steering Committee that advises Development Gateway, and have been very generous with their guidance and feedback during the life of this project.

Can AidData track aid in real time?

While many records in AidData come from the current year, ensuring data quality and preventing duplications means that there is a delay in the publication of new data. AidData does receive live updates from several donors, but in the current version these data are not published through the portal in real time.

Does the money in AidData reflect what was actually spent?

Much of the information in AidData reflects commitments, which represent the amount of money that a government or organization has allocated to an aid activity. Disbursements, which are available for a large portion of the records in AidData, reflect the amount of money disbursed for each activity. While disbursements represent a more accurate picture of funds actually spent for development, users should be cautious due to the incomplete reporting of these data.

If you plan to aggregate disbursement amounts, please read this important note.

How do I cite the AidData database in a research paper?

Please cite the data set using the following citation:

Michael G. Findley, Darren Hawkins, Robert L. Hicks, Daniel L. Nielson, Bradley C. Parks, Ryan M. Powers, J. Timmons Roberts, Michael J. Tierney, and Sven Wilson. “AidData: Tracking Development Finance,” Conference paper presented at Aid Transparency and Development Finance: Lessons and Insights from AidData, Oxford, U.K. 22-25 March 2010.

How do I add my organization's development finance data to your dataset?

Capturing the universe of development finance data is not possible without the continued cooperation of our partners. To consider partnering with AidData to add your organizations development activities to our public collection, please contact us at info@aiddata.org.

How is AidData related to the PLAID (Project-Level Aid) research project?

PLAID was the precursor to AidData and was founded by researchers at the College of William and Mary and Brigham Young University. In December 2009, PLAID merged with Devleopment Gateway's AiDA (Accessible Information on Development Activities) project to form AidData. For more information, see William and Mary's Press Release.

How can I help support the AidData mission?

To continue to keep AidData as a free and public service, we continue to seek funding from other organizations and individuals committed to our vision. To support AidData, contact us at info@aiddata.org or by phone at +1 (202) 572-9299.

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