The determinants of unit non-response in the Ifo Business Survey

Abstract

It is well-known that non-response affects the results of surveys and can even cause biases due to selectivities if it cannot be regarded as missing at random. In contrast to household surveys, response behaviour in business surveys is rarely examined in literature. This paper analyses a large business survey at a microdata level for unit non-response. The data base is the Ifo Business Survey, which was established in 1949 and is completed by more than 5000 firms every month. The panel structure makes it possible to use statistical modelling with the inclusion of different types of time dimensions, as well as firm-specific effects. The results show that there are strong time-dependent effects on the response rate and that non-response is more frequent in economic good times.

The Association Between Hospital Characteristics and Nonresponse in an Organization Survey: An Analysis of the National Healthcare Establishment and Workforce Survey in Malaysia

“…This finding is consistent with previous observations (Mullner et al, 1981). Interestingly, studies conducted in nonhealth-care settings (Gupta, Shaw, & Delery, 2000; Phipps & Jones, 2007; Seiler, 2014; Tomaskovic-Devey et al, 1994) demonstrated an inverse relationship between organization size and RL, which contrast with our finding. The inverse relationship was interpreted by the earlier investigators to reflect the greater propensity for information dispersal and higher organizational complexities of larger organizations and by extension a lower capability and motivation to respond.…”

Harmonization of the ifo Business Survey’s Micro Data

“…Moreover, Seiler and Heumann (2013) provide a statistical analysis of different imputation methods and conclude that the bias due to non-response does not significantly reduce the forecasting performance of the ifo Business Climate Index that is based on the micro data of the IBS. In addition, see Seiler (2014) for a more detailed analysis on the determinants of non-response in the IBS.…”

Establishment survey participation during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The most prominent example is establishment size. Most studies find that larger establishments are less likely to participate in surveys than smaller ones (Janik and Kohaut 2012;Earp et al 2018;Hecht et al 2019;König et al 2021;Küfner et al 2022), with some exceptions for surveys that implement special treatments on larger establishments, including adaptive recruitment strategies (Davis and Pihama 2009;Seiler 2014). Nonresponse biases are also found for industry type (Tomaskovic-Devey et al 1995), survey topic (HMRC 2010Snijkers et al 2013;Snijkers 2018;Küfner et al 2022), establishment age (Phipps and Jones 2007), average wages (Phipps et al 2012;Küfner et al 2022), and region of the establishment (Janik 2011;König et al 2021), among others.…”