<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Response burden has long been a concern for data producers. In this article, we investigate the relationship between some measures of actual and perceived burden and we provide empirical evidence of their association with data quality. We draw on two business surveys conducted by Banca d’Italia since 1970, which provide a very rich and unique source of information. We find evidence that the perceived burden is affected by actual burden but the latter is not the only driver. Our results also show a clear link between a respondent’s perceived effort and the probability of not answering some important questions (such as those relating to expectations of future investments and turnover) or of dropping out of the survey. On the contrary, we do not find significant effects on the quality of answers to quantitative questions such as business turnover and investments. Overall, these findings have implications for data producers that should target the perceived burden, besides the actual burden, to increase data quality.</p>
</abstract>

Response burden has long been a concern for data producers. In this article, we investigate the relationship between some measures of actual and perceived burden and we provide empirical evidence of their association with data quality. We draw on two business surveys conducted by Banca d’Italia since 1970, which provide a very rich and unique source of information. We find evidence that the perceived burden is affected by actual burden but the latter is not the only driver. Our results also show a clear link between a respondent’s perceived effort and the probability of not answering some important questions (such as those relating to expectations of future investments and turnover) or of dropping out of the survey. On the contrary, we do not find significant effects on the quality of answers to quantitative questions such as business turnover and investments. Overall, these findings have implications for data producers that should target the perceived burden, besides the actual burden, to increase data quality.

Response Burden and Data Quality in Business Surveys

Journal of Official Statistics

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

{"article-title":"Response Burden and Data Quality in Business Surveys"}

Response burden has long been a concern for data producers. In this article, we investigate the relationship between some measures of actual and perceived...

Response Burden and Data Quality in Business Surveys

Published Online: Dec 26, 2021

Page range: 811 - 836

Received: Aug 01, 2019

Accepted: Mar 01, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jos-2021-0036

Keywords
Response burden, data quality, business surveys

© 2020 Marco Bottone et al., published by Sciendo

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

Response Burden and Data Quality in Business Surveys

Published Online: Dec 26, 2021

Page range: 811 - 836

Received: Aug 01, 2019

Accepted: Mar 01, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jos-2021-0036

KeywordsResponse burden, data quality, business surveys

© 2020 Marco Bottone et al., published by Sciendo

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

Keywords
Response burden, data quality, business surveys