<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><bold>Background:</bold> In the cluster sampling approach many parameters have influence on lowering the survey costs and one of the most important is the intracluster homogeneity.<bold>Objectives:</bold> The goal of the paper is to find the most optimal value of intracluster homogeneity in case when two or more questions or variables have a key role in the research.<bold>Methods/Approach:</bold> Five key variables have been selected from a business survey conducted in Croatia and results for the two-stage cluster sampling design approach were simulated. The calculated intracluster homogeneity values were compared among all the five observed questions and survey costs and precision levels were inspected.<bold>Results:</bold> In the new cluster sampling design, for the fixed precision level, the lowest survey costs would be achieved by using the intracluster homogeneity value which is the closest to the average intracluster homogeneity value among all the key questions. Similar results were obtained when survey costs were held fixed.<bold>Conclusions:</bold> If there is more than one key question in the survey, then the best solution would be to use an average intracluster homogeneity value. However, one should notice that in that case minimum survey costs would not be reached, but the precision levels would increase at all key questions.</abstract>

Background: In the cluster sampling approach many parameters have influence on lowering the survey costs and one of the most important is the intracluster homogeneity.Objectives: The goal of the paper is to find the most optimal value of intracluster homogeneity in case when two or more questions or variables have a key role in the research.Methods/Approach: Five key variables have been selected from a business survey conducted in Croatia and results for the two-stage cluster sampling design approach were simulated. The calculated intracluster homogeneity values were compared among all the five observed questions and survey costs and precision levels were inspected.Results: In the new cluster sampling design, for the fixed precision level, the lowest survey costs would be achieved by using the intracluster homogeneity value which is the closest to the average intracluster homogeneity value among all the key questions. Similar results were obtained when survey costs were held fixed.Conclusions: If there is more than one key question in the survey, then the best solution would be to use an average intracluster homogeneity value. However, one should notice that in that case minimum survey costs would not be reached, but the precision levels would increase at all key questions.

Intracluster Homogeneity Selection Problem in a Business Survey

Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb,

Business Systems Research Journal

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Intracluster Homogeneity Selection Problem in a Business Survey"}

Background: In the cluster sampling approach many parameters have influence on lowering the survey costs and one of the most important is the intracluster...

Intracluster Homogeneity Selection Problem in a Business Survey

Published Online: Oct 17, 2016

Page range: 91 - 103

Received: Feb 02, 2016

Accepted: Sep 15, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bsrj-2016-0015

Keywords
business survey, cluster sampling, complex survey sampling design, design effect, key survey question, rate of homogeneity, survey costs

© 2016 Berislav Žmuk, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Intracluster Homogeneity Selection Problem in a Business Survey

Published Online: Oct 17, 2016

Page range: 91 - 103

Received: Feb 02, 2016

Accepted: Sep 15, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bsrj-2016-0015

Keywordsbusiness survey, cluster sampling, complex survey sampling design, design effect, key survey question, rate of homogeneity, survey costs

© 2016 Berislav Žmuk, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
business survey, cluster sampling, complex survey sampling design, design effect, key survey question, rate of homogeneity, survey costs