Analysis

The UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) is starting a development programme for business surveys to meet the recommendations of a recent government report calling for improvements to economic statistics, in particular regional economic statistics.

Users will analyse and interpret the time series of estimates in various ways often involving estimates for several time periods. Despite the large sample sizes and degree of overlap between the sample for some periods the sampling errors can still substantially affect the estimates of movements and functions of them used to interpret the series of estimates. We consider how to account for sampling errors in the interpretation of the estimates from repeated surveys and how to inform the users and analysts of their possible impact.

In its attempt to deal with bad frames and measure characteristics that are rare, ONS builds satellite registers from an administrative source, builds up historic information into a panel, or uses filter questions from more general surveys.

This paper discusses in detail issues dealing with the technical aspects of designing and conducting surveys. It is intended for an audience of survey methodologists.

The Sawmill Survey is a voluntary census of sawmills in Great Britain. It is limited to fixed mills using domestically-grown timber. Three approaches to assess the coverage of this survey are described:

(1) A sample survey of the sawmilling industry from the UK's business register, excluding businesses already sampled in the Sawmill Survey, is used to assess the undercoverage in the list of known sawmills; (2) A non-response follow-up using local knowledge of regional officers of the Forestry Commission, is used to estimate the sawmills that do not respond (mostly the smaller mills); and (3) A survey of small-scale sawmills and mobile sawmills (many of these businesses are micro-enterprises) is conducted to analyse their significance.

These three approaches are synthesized to give an estimate of the coverage of the original survey compared with the total activity identified, and to estimate the importance of micro-enterprises to the sawmilling industry in Great Britain.

The UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) is starting a development programme for business surveys to meet the recommendations of a recent government report calling for improvements to economic statistics, in particular regional economic statistics.

Users will analyse and interpret the time series of estimates in various ways often involving estimates for several time periods. Despite the large sample sizes and degree of overlap between the sample for some periods the sampling errors can still substantially affect the estimates of movements and functions of them used to interpret the series of estimates. We consider how to account for sampling errors in the interpretation of the estimates from repeated surveys and how to inform the users and analysts of their possible impact.

In its attempt to deal with bad frames and measure characteristics that are rare, ONS builds satellite registers from an administrative source, builds up historic information into a panel, or uses filter questions from more general surveys.

This paper discusses in detail issues dealing with the technical aspects of designing and conducting surveys. It is intended for an audience of survey methodologists.

The Sawmill Survey is a voluntary census of sawmills in Great Britain. It is limited to fixed mills using domestically-grown timber. Three approaches to assess the coverage of this survey are described:

(1) A sample survey of the sawmilling industry from the UK's business register, excluding businesses already sampled in the Sawmill Survey, is used to assess the undercoverage in the list of known sawmills; (2) A non-response follow-up using local knowledge of regional officers of the Forestry Commission, is used to estimate the sawmills that do not respond (mostly the smaller mills); and (3) A survey of small-scale sawmills and mobile sawmills (many of these businesses are micro-enterprises) is conducted to analyse their significance.

These three approaches are synthesized to give an estimate of the coverage of the original survey compared with the total activity identified, and to estimate the importance of micro-enterprises to the sawmilling industry in Great Britain.