Burden analysis for short-term business surveys respondents

Abstract

Short-term business statistics are produced by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) and governed by specific European regulations which outline the structure of questionnaires and surveys, the scope of observation, the reference population, the sampling methodology and the precision of the estimates.

The Italian productive sector, characterized by a fragmentation of enterprises in terms of size, along with the sampling strategies mandated by European regulations, results in the participation of specific business types, notably medium and large enterprises, in most of the surveys conducted by ISTAT.

This work analyses the burden on respondents and their behaviour over time by assessing the profiles of respondents and non-respondents. The objective, using survival analysis methods, is to identify the factors contributing to the permanent exit of respondents from surveys, and particularly to measure the extent of this withdrawal. This involves analysing the duration of cooperation between respondent units and ISTAT.

The data analysed come from the The Business Statistical Portal, i.e. the system that collectively manages all short-term business surveys. The information used in the study covers all the survey units involved in short term business surveys in the period 2016 to 2023.