IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/entthe/v28y2003i2p163-172.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

SME Survey Methodology: Response Rates, Data Quality, and Cost Effectiveness

Author

Listed:
  • Rick Newby
  • John Watson
  • David Woodliff

Abstract

Cost effective data collection is an important methodological issue for small and medium enterprise (SME) researchers. There is a generally held view that mail surveys are the most efficient means of collecting empirical data, despite the potential difficulties associated with low response rates. To enhance the usefulness of mail surveys, researchers have suggested a variety of strategies aimed at improving response rates. While previous studies have examined the effect on response rates of many of these strategies, their impact on data quality and on the cost effectiveness of data collection is less well understood. This study evaluates four response–inducing strategies (printing the survey instrument on colored paper, telephone pre–notification, payment of a monetary incentive, and a follow–up mailing) in terms of their effect on data quality, response rates, and cost effectiveness for a population of SMEs.

Suggested Citation

  • Rick Newby & John Watson & David Woodliff, 2003. "SME Survey Methodology: Response Rates, Data Quality, and Cost Effectiveness," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 28(2), pages 163-172, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:28:y:2003:i:2:p:163-172
    DOI: 10.1046/j.1540-6520.2003.00037.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1046/j.1540-6520.2003.00037.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1046/j.1540-6520.2003.00037.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard L. Mccline & Subodh Bhat & Pam Baj, 2000. "Opportunity Recognition: An Exploratory Investigation of a Component of the Entrepreneurial Process in the Context of the Health Care Industry," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 25(2), pages 81-94, December.
    2. Martin, Warren S. & Duncan, W. Jack & Powers, Thomas L. & Sawyer, Jesse C., 1989. "Costs and benefits of selected response inducement techniques in mail survey research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 67-79, August.
    3. Michael H. Morris & Foard F. Jones, 1999. "Entrepreneurship in Established Organizations: The Case of the Public Sector," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 24(1), pages 71-91, October.
    4. Paul Westhead & Marc Cowling, 1998. "Family Firm Research: The Need for a Methodological Rethink," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 23(1), pages 31-56, October.
    5. Jobber, David & Birro, Karl & Sanderson, Stuart M., 1988. "A factorial investigation of methods of stimulating response to a mail survey," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 158-164, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alex Jingwei He & Liang Ma, 2020. "Corporate policy entrepreneurship and cross‐boundary strategies: How a private corporation champions mobile healthcare payment innovation in China?," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(1), pages 76-86, February.
    2. Madison, Kristen & Runyan, Rodney C. & Swinney, Jane L., 2014. "Strategic posture and performance: Revealing differences between family and nonfamily firms," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 239-251.
    3. Sue Birley, 2002. "Attitudes of Owner-Managers' Children towards Family and Business Issues," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 26(3), pages 5-19, April.
    4. Águeda Gil-López & Unai Arzubiaga & Elena San Román & Alfredo Massis, 2022. "The Visible Hand of corporate entrepreneurship in state-owned enterprises: a longitudinal study of the Spanish National Postal Operator," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 1033-1071, September.
    5. Backman, Mikaela & Palmberg, Johanna, 2015. "Contextualizing small family firms: How does the urban–rural context affect firm employment growth?," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 247-258.
    6. Stockmans, Annelies & Lybaert, Nadine & Voordeckers, Wim, 2013. "The conditional nature of board characteristics in constraining earnings management in private family firms," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 84-92.
    7. Achleitner, Ann-Kristin & Braun, Reiner & Schraml, Stephanie & Welter, Juliane, 2009. "Goal structures in family firms: empirical evidence on the relationship between firm and family goals," CEFS Working Paper Series 2009-08, Technische Universität München (TUM), Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies (CEFS).
    8. Carnes, Christina Matz & Gilstrap, Frank E. & Hitt, Michael A. & Ireland, R. Duane & Matz, Jack W. & Woodman, Richard W., 2019. "Transforming a traditional research organization through public entrepreneurship," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 62(4), pages 437-449.
    9. Andreas Kallmuenzer & Andreas Strobl & Mike Peters, 2018. "Tweaking the entrepreneurial orientation–performance relationship in family firms: the effect of control mechanisms and family-related goals," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 855-883, October.
    10. Gérard Hirigoyen & Thierry Poulain-Rehm, 2014. "The Corporate Social Responsibility of Family Businesses: An International Approach," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 2(3), pages 1-26, July.
    11. Philip Catney & John M Henneberry, 2016. "Public entrepreneurship and the politics of regeneration in multi-level governance," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(7), pages 1324-1343, November.
    12. Umans, Ine & Lybaert, Nadine & Steijvers, Tensie & Voordeckers, Wim, 2021. "The influence of transgenerational succession intentions on the succession planning process: The moderating role of high-quality relationships," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 12(2).
    13. Vassallo, Jarrod P. & Banerjee, Sourindra & Zaman, Hasanuzzaman & Prabhu, Jaideep C., 2023. "Design thinking and public sector innovation: The divergent effects of risk-taking, cognitive empathy and emotional empathy on individual performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(6).
    14. Jiří Hnilica & Lorraine M. Uhlaner & Ondřej Machek & Ales Kubíček & Martin Lukeš & Martin Jurek & Petra Štamfestová, 2019. "The Role of Responsible Ownership and Family in Privately Held Firms with Multiple Owners: Preliminary Findings from the Czech Republic," Central European Business Review, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2019(5), pages 1-17.
    15. Maria Claudia Angel Ferrero & Véronique Bessière, 2016. "From Lab to Venture: Cognitive Factors Influencing Researchers' Decision to Start a Venture," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 24(02), pages 101-131, June.
    16. James J. Chrisman & Jess H. Chua & Franz Kellermanns, 2009. "Priorities, Resource Stocks, and Performance in Family and Nonfamily Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 33(3), pages 739-760, May.
    17. Chris Carr & Suzanne Bateman, 2009. "International Strategy Configurations of the World’s Top Family Firms," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 49(6), pages 733-758, December.
    18. Zhongfeng Su, 2021. "The co-evolution of institutions and entrepreneurship," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 1327-1350, December.
    19. José Luis Esparza-Aguilar & Domingo García-Pérez-de-Lema & Antonio Duréndez, 2016. "The effect of accounting information systems on the performance of Mexican micro, small and medium-sized family firms," Tourism Economics, , vol. 22(5), pages 1104-1120, October.
    20. Pramodita Sharma & S. Manikutty, 2005. "Strategic Divestments in Family Firms: Role of Family Structure and Community Culture," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(3), pages 293-311, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:28:y:2003:i:2:p:163-172. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.