Today, data analysis is not only a cross-section where several individuals are observed in one time or time series which one unit of observation is observed in one period of time. As data analysis is growing, the data can be combined which is known as panel data. The cross section can be a characteristic of a company or region or country, so that by using a panel data regression model it is possible to capture characteristics between different individuals and between different times period. In addition, the researches that are developing in recent days have already taken advantage of the panel data analysis, so it is considered important for the new students to be able to understand the analysis.
The Master of Development Economics Program, Faculty of Economics and Business, Gadjah Mada University (MEP FEB UGM) held a Sharing Session “Data Panel Analysis” in room R.1.2.A MEP FEB UGM, Wednesday (12/19). Dr. Watekhi from Education and Training Center (Pusdiklat), Statistics Indonesia (BPS) was invited to be the speaker. The sharing session was attended by students from the Bappenas Linkage class in Regional Development Planning (PPD) and the students of partnership class, BPS Batch 4 in Applied Economics.
Watekhi mentioned that there are several advantages of using panel data analysis. Those are increasing sample size, overcoming violations of multicollinearity assumptions and individual heterogeneity problems, as well as identifying and calculating effects that cannot be performed on pure time series or cross section analysis. Furthermore, Watekhi stated that by using panel data analysis, we can conduct a more in-depth research by linking strategic issues broadly.
At the end of his session, Watekhi also introduced the use of statistical software for panel data regression analysis, namely Stata. Although there are many other statistical software that can be used for the analysis, Watekhi believed that Stata has more advantages. One of them is because the commands can be typed manually, so almost all statistical analysis processes can be done by Stata. Besides, the dialogue at Stata is also much developed, so it would be easier to learn it. On the occasion, Watekhi also demonstrated how to conduct the panel data analysis using Stata.