Understanding the Decision to Participate in a Business Survey

Thursday, June 21, 2007 ICES3, June 18-21, 2007, Montreal 1

Understanding the Decision to Participate in a Business Survey

Ger SnijkersMartin Luppes

Barbara Berkenbosch

Statistics NetherlandsDivision of Business Statistics


Understanding the Decision to Participate in a Survey

Models:

1. Groves & Couper (1998)

2. Willimack, Nichols & Sudman (2002)

3. Hedlin, Dale, Haraldsen & Jones (2005)

4. Snijkers (2007)


Response• In time• Complete• Correct

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Motivation

Respondentburden:

• De facto • Perception

• More than one survey• More than once• in other ways: ○ registers ○ XBRL

Internal business factors:• Policy• Data• Resources• Market position

Informant:• Mandate• Data knowledge• Job priority

External Business factors:• Econ. climate• Regulatory requirements• Political climate

Image

A business

The survey:• Topic• Population and sample• Sponsor / Survey organisation• Resources• Planning• Authority/confidentiality

The survey design

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Statistical picture of a country

NSI NSI


Understanding the Decision to Participate in a Survey

1. The perspective of the business

2. The perspective of a NSI



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Motivation

Respondentburden:





External business factors:• Econ. climate• Regulatory requirements• Political climate

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A business


The survey design

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Request to Participate:Reactions by Businesses

• “What is the use of this survey?It is pointless!”

• “There is no connection with my business activities.”

• “It only costs money and time!”“The costs outweigh the added value.”“There is no added value.”

• “The tone of voice is irritating; in stead of emphasizing the why of surveys, CBS poses threats of penalties in her correspondence.”



Conclusion (The Netherlands):

Statistical obligations are considered as the administrative burden that irritates entrepreneurs the most,

despite the fact that statistical obligations are not even mentioned in the summary of the main causes for administrative burden.



Conclusion (The Netherlands) con’d:

Businesses want to get rid of the obligations that are most removed from their own business processes.

As soon as they do see the value of these obligations, and there is a connection with their business activities, the irritation decreases immediately.


Request to Participate

What can we do?

The perspective of a NSI



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Motivation

Respondentburden:






Image

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The survey design

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Request to Participate

What can we do?

Tailoring the survey design!• Mode of data collection

- “I will participate when I get a paper/internetquestionnaire.”

• Questionnaire design- “The questionnaire is too complicated to

complete.”

• Contact strategy


Tailoring the Survey Design:Contact Strategy

Communicating your survey = essential

in influencing the motivation of a business respondent to participate


Influencing Survey Participation:Compliance Principles

1. Reciprocation

2. Consistency

3. Social validation

4. Authority

5. Scarcity

6. Liking

Groves, Cialdini & Couper (POQ, Winter, 1992)



1. Reciprocation“One should be more willing to comply with a request to the extent that the compliance constitutes the repayment of a perceived gift, favor, or concession.”

• “What is in it for me.”• “It only costs me.”• “I want you to repay me for the costs I’ve made

to complete this questionnaire.”



2. Commitment & Consistency“After committing oneself to a position, one should be more willing to comply with requests for behaviors that are consistent with that position.”

• “I will comply with requests from the government.”• “I am a responsible entrepreneur towards society.”• “Your statistics are not useful for me.”• “Explain to me why this is useful?” • “I will not participate unless the topic is of interest.”



3. Social validation“One should be more willing to comply with a requests to the degree that one believes that similar others would comply with it.”

• “My trading organization has a negative attitudetowards surveys. So have I.”

• “My trading organization is positive aboutparticipating in your surveys. So I will.”

• “The political party I vote for is in favor of reducingbusiness survey burden.

That is why I do not participate.”



4. Authority“One should be more willing to yield to the requests of someone whom one perceives as a legitimate authority.”

• “The survey is mandatory. So I cooperate.If I don’t, I will be fined.”

• “The request comes from the government.”



5. Scarcity“One should be more willing to comply with requests to secure opportunities that are scarce.”

• “My response is important, since there are notmany companies like mine.”

• “Once CBS has located you, it will not let you go.”• “I am not unique. Take another one. • “I am not relevant for you.”



6. Liking“One should be more willing to comply with the requests of liked others.”

• “The statistical obligations are considered as theadministrative burden that irritates entrepreneursthe most.”- SN = statistics => SN ≠ likable organisation

• “SN is not customer-oriented”• Personal contact is helpful


Compliance Principles

businesses are sensitive to

1. Reciprocation +++

2. Consistency ++

3. Social validation +

4. Authority +++

5. Scarcity –

6. Liking ++


Compliance Principlesused by businesses

• Literature review• Focus groups with

- Helpdesk - Interviewers:

business interviewers, CATI interviewers- Maintenance department- Data cleaning department

• Analysis of customer satisfaction inquiry• Analysis of inquiry on image of SN



businesses are used by sensitive to Stats

Neth

1. Reciprocation +++

2. Consistency ++

3. Social validation +

4. Authority +++

5. Scarcity –

6. Liking ++



businesses are used by sensitive to Stats

Neth

1. Reciprocation +++ –

2. Consistency ++ +

3. Social validation + –

4. Authority +++ +++

5. Scarcity – +

6. Liking ++ ++


Compliance Principlesused by Stats Netherlands

Content analysis• Advance and reminder letters• CBS website• Helpdesk:

letters, e-mails, telephone calls• Interviewer protocols:

Business interviewers, CATI interviewers• Protocols of Maintenance department



1. Authority (+++) Mentioning Stats Netherlands Referring to CBS act:

Participation is mandatory by law, and non-response will be fined

Results will be used by the Dutch government, Eurostat, and other organisations

Response is due before a certain data



2. Liking (++) Envelope that needs no stamps Mentioning helpdesk “Thank you, in advance” Explaining confidentiality of use of data Trying to be friendly in the tone of voice Apologizing in reminder letters Explaining reminders



3. Commitment & consistency (+) Mentioning the name of the survey The why of the survey The importance of the survey

4. Scarcity (+) Unique opportunity: SN is dependent on the

response of a specific company. “Your response is important to us” Helping



Conclusions: This communication strategy is not effective in

influencing the respondent’s motivation to participate,

apart from the authority principle: - mandatory character of surveys- “Irritating”

Liking: We think we are friendly in our communication

SN is not considered a likable organization Businesses are not interested in questionnaires

and general statistics



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Motivation

Respondentburden:






Image

A business


The survey design

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Compliance Principles:Conclusions Contact Strategy

To be effective, more use should be made of: Reciprocation (+++):

- make statistics useful for businesses- incentives (benchmarking)

Liking (++): - use the language of the businesses- do not treat them as numbers, but with respect- do not stress authority that much

Consistency & Commitment (++): - explain the necessity of statistics

Social validation (+): - cooperate with trading organizations- look for equal interests

Understanding the Decision to Participate in a Business Survey

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