<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Response burden in business surveys has long been a concern for National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) for three types of reasons: political reasons, because response burden is part of the total administrative burden governments impose on businesses; methodological reasons, because an excessive response burden may reduce data quality and increase data-collection costs; and strategic reasons, because it affects relations between the NSIs and the business community. This article investigates NSI practices concerning business response burden measurement and reduction actions based on a survey of 41 NSIs from 39 countries. Most NSIs monitor at least some burden aspects and have implemented some actions to reduce burden, but large differences exist between NSIs’ methodologies for burden measurement and actions taken to reduce burden. Future research should find ways to deal with methodological differences in burden conceptualization, operationalization, and measurement, and provide insights into the effectiveness and efficiency of burden-reduction actions.</p></abstract>

Response burden in business surveys has long been a concern for National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) for three types of reasons: political reasons, because response burden is part of the total administrative burden governments impose on businesses; methodological reasons, because an excessive response burden may reduce data quality and increase data-collection costs; and strategic reasons, because it affects relations between the NSIs and the business community. This article investigates NSI practices concerning business response burden measurement and reduction actions based on a survey of 41 NSIs from 39 countries. Most NSIs monitor at least some burden aspects and have implemented some actions to reduce burden, but large differences exist between NSIs’ methodologies for burden measurement and actions taken to reduce burden. Future research should find ways to deal with methodological differences in burden conceptualization, operationalization, and measurement, and provide insights into the effectiveness and efficiency of burden-reduction actions.

Response Burden in Official Business Surveys: Measurement and Reduction Practices of National Statistical Institutes

University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Economics, Kardeljeva pl. 17, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Statistics Netherlands, Postbus 4481, 6401 CZ Heerlen, The Netherlands.

Statistics Norway, Pb 8131 Dep, NO-0033 Oslo.

Sogeti, Route de Longwy 36, L-8080 Bertrange, Luxembourg.

Journal of Official Statistics

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

Response burden in business surveys has long been a concern for National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) for three types of reasons: political reasons, because...

Response Burden in Official Business Surveys: Measurement and Reduction Practices of National Statistical Institutes

Published Online: Dec 16, 2015

Page range: 559 - 588

Received: Nov 01, 2013

Accepted: May 01, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jos-2015-0035

Keywords
Administrative burden, data collection, establishment surveys

© 2015 Mojca Bavdaž et al., published by De Gruyter Open

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

Response Burden in Official Business Surveys: Measurement and Reduction Practices of National Statistical Institutes

Published Online: Dec 16, 2015

Page range: 559 - 588

Received: Nov 01, 2013

Accepted: May 01, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jos-2015-0035

KeywordsAdministrative burden, data collection, establishment surveys

© 2015 Mojca Bavdaž et al., published by De Gruyter Open

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

Keywords
Administrative burden, data collection, establishment surveys