This volume brings together a selection of papers presented at the 2017 European Establishment Statistics Workshop, which have been revised and expanded here. Several contributions will serve to deepen the reader’s understanding of the unit problem in business statistics, while further chapters showcase recent advances in business survey methodology and practice in areas such as linking and data integration, sampling and estimation, data collection from businesses, measurement and mitigation of response burden in business surveys, among others. Written by leading experts in business statistics, the volume offers detailed and up-to-date findings to survey methodologists and practitioners working with business statistics. It will also be useful for readers in official statistics, academia and the private sector.

Designing and Conducting Business Surveys provides a coherent overview of the business survey process, from start to finish. It uniquely integrates an understanding of how businesses operate, a total survey error approach to data quality that focuses specifically on business surveys, and sound project management principles. The book brings together what is currently known about planning, designing, and conducting business surveys, with producing and disseminating statistics or other research results from the collected data. This knowledge draws upon a variety of disciplines such as survey methodology, organizational sciences, sociology, psychology, and statistical methods. The contents of the book formulate a comprehensive guide to scholarly material previously dispersed among books, journal articles, and conference papers. This book provides guidelines that will help the reader make educated trade-off decisions that minimize survey errors, costs, and response burden, while being attentive to survey data quality. Major topics include: • Determining the survey content, considering user needs, the business context, and total survey quality • Planning the survey as a project • Sampling frames, procedures, and methods • Questionnaire design and testing for self-administered paper, web, and mixed-mode surveys • Survey communication design to obtain responses and facilitate the business response process • Conducting and managing the survey using paradata and project management tools • Data processing, including capture, editing, and imputation, and dissemination of statistical outputs Designing and Conducting Business Surveys is an indispensable resource for anyone involved in designing and/or conducting business or organizational surveys at statistical institutes, central banks, survey organizations, etc.; producing statistics or other research results from business surveys at universities, research organizations, etc.; or using data produced from business surveys. The book also lays a foundation for new areas of research in business surveys.

ADVANCES IN BUSINESS STATISTICS, METHODS AND DATA COLLECTION Advances in Business Statistics, Methods and Data Collection delivers insights into the latest state of play in producing establishment statistics, obtained from businesses, farms and institutions. Presenting materials and reflecting discussions from the 6th International Conference on Establishment Statistics (ICES-VI), this edited volume provides a broad overview of methodology underlying current establishment statistics from every aspect of the production life cycle while spotlighting innovative and impactful advancements in the development, conduct, and evaluation of modern establishment statistics programs. Highlights include: Practical discussions on agile, timely, and accurate measurement of rapidly evolving economic phenomena such as globalization, new computer technologies, and the informal sector. Comprehensive explorations of administrative and new data sources and technologies, covering big (organic) data sources and methods for data integration, linking, machine learning and visualization. Detailed compilations of statistical programs’ responses to wide-ranging data collection and production challenges, among others caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. In-depth examinations of business survey questionnaire design, computerization, pretesting methods, experimentation, and paradata. Methodical presentations of conventional and emerging procedures in survey statistics techniques for establishment statistics, encompassing probability sampling designs and sample coordination, non-probability sampling, missing data treatments, small area estimation and Bayesian methods. Providing a broad overview of most up-to-date science, this book challenges the status quo and prepares researchers for current and future challenges in establishment statistics and methods. Perfect for survey researchers, government statisticians, National Bank employees, economists, and undergraduate and graduate students in survey research and economics, Advances in Business Statistics, Methods and Data Collection will also earn a place in the toolkit of researchers working –with data– in industries across a variety of fields.

Consists of invited papers, from internationally recognized researchers, chosen for their quality as well as their overall unity. Describes current methods along with innovative research and presents new technologies for solving problems unique to establishment surveys. Stages of the survey process are addressed in the first five parts with cross-cutting topics in the last section.

To the uninformed, surveys appear to be an easy type of research to design and conduct, but when students and professionals delve deeper, they encounter the vast complexities that the range and practice of survey methods present. To complicate matters, technology has rapidly affected the way surveys can be conducted; today, surveys are conducted via cell phone, the Internet, email, interactive voice response, and other technology-based modes. Thus, students, researchers, and professionals need both a comprehensive understanding of these complexities and a revised set of tools to meet the challenges. In conjunction with top survey researchers around the world and with Nielsen Media Research serving as the corporate sponsor, the Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods presents state-of-the-art information and methodological examples from the field of survey research. Although there are other "how-to" guides and references texts on survey research, none is as comprehensive as this Encyclopedia, and none presents the material in such a focused and approachable manner. With more than 600 entries, this resource uses a Total Survey Error perspective that considers all aspects of possible survey error from a cost-benefit standpoint. Key Features Covers all major facets of survey research methodology, from selecting the sample design and the sampling frame, designing and pretesting the questionnaire, data collection, and data coding, to the thorny issues surrounding diminishing response rates, confidentiality, privacy, informed consent and other ethical issues, data weighting, and data analyses Presents a Reader′s Guide to organize entries around themes or specific topics and easily guide users to areas of interest Offers cross-referenced terms, a brief listing of Further Readings, and stable Web site URLs following most entries The Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods is specifically written to appeal to beginning, intermediate, and advanced students, practitioners, researchers, consultants, and consumers of survey-based information.

This publication shows readers how to design and conduct a census or sample survey. It explains basic survey concepts and provides information on how to create efficient and high quality surveys. It is aimed at those involved in planning, conducting or managing a survey and at students of survey design courses. This book contains the following information: formulating the survey objectives and design a questionnaire; things to consider when designing a survey (choosing between a sample or a census, defining the survey population, choosing which survey frame to use, possible sources of survey error); determining the sample size, allocate the sample across strata and select the sample; appropriate uses of survey data and methods of point and variance estimation in data analysis; data dissemination and disclosure control; using administrative data, particularly during the design and estimation phases; choosing a collection method (self-enumeration, personal interview or telephone interview, computer-assisted versus paper-based questionnaires); organizing and conducting data collection operations; processing data (all data handling activities between collection and estimation) and using quality control and quality assurance measures to minimize and control errors during various survey steps; and planning and managing a survey. This publication also includes a case study that illustrates the steps in developing a household survey, using the methods and principles presented in the book.

In conjunction with top survey researchers around the world and with Nielsen Media Research serving as the corporate sponsor, the Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods presents state-of-the-art information and methodological examples from the field of survey research. Although there are other "how-to" guides and references texts on survey research, none is as comprehensive as this Encyclopedia, and none presents the material in such a focused and approachable manner. With more than 600 entries, this resource uses a Total Survey Error perspective that considers all aspects of possible survey error from a cost-benefit standpoint.