Advances in Business Statistics, Methods and Data Collection

16Tailoring the Design of a New Combined Business Survey: Process, Methods, and Lessons Learned

Ger Snijkers¹, Leanne Houben², and Fred Demollin³

¹Department of Research and Development (Methodology), Division of Data Services, Research and Innovation, Statistics Netherlands, Heerlen, The Netherlands

²Department of Innovation, Development and Functional Management (Innovation Data Services), Division of Data Services, Research and Innovation, Statistics Netherlands, Heerlen, The Netherlands

³Department of Business Statistics (Heerlen), Division of Economic and Business Statistics and National Accounts, Statistics Netherlands, Heerlen, The Netherlands

16.1 Introduction

Official business surveys, conducted by National Statistical Institutes (NSIs), usually are being conducted for years or even decades, using approximately the same design (Snijkers et al. 2013). Minor changes may happen from year to year, but a major redesign, to the extent that we in fact end up with a new survey, is quite rare because recurring surveys produce time series. However, in the current era, major redesigns of business surveys may be expected more.

One driver for a redesign is efficiency improvement by integrating several similar surveys using comparable processes into one production process. In 2000, Statistics Netherlands started the IMPlementation EConomic Transformation (IMPECT) program (Snijkers et al. 2011) to redesign its Annual Structural Business Surveys (s). The individual SBS surveys were ...