Читать книгу Handbook of Web Surveys - Jelke Bethlehem - Страница 44

The Kauffman Firm Survey (KFS) is a panel study of new businesses founded in 2004. They are tracked over their early years of operation. The survey focuses on the nature of new business formation activities, characteristics of the strategy, offerings, employment patterns of new businesses, the nature of the financial and organizational arrangements of these businesses, and the characteristics of their founders.

The KFS created the panel by using a random sample from a Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) database list of new businesses started in 2004. The list contained in total about 250,000 businesses.

The KFS oversampled these businesses based on the intensity of research and development employment in the businesses' primary industries. The KFS sought to create a panel that included new businesses created by a person or team of people, purchases of existing businesses by a new ownership team, and purchases of franchises. To this end, the KFS excluded D&B records for businesses that were wholly owned subsidiaries of existing businesses, businesses inherited from someone else, and not‐for‐profit organizations. Previous research on new businesses showed also variability in how business founders perceive the operation of their starting businesses. Therefore, a series of questions was asked to business owners about indicators of business activity and whether these were conducted for the first time in the reference year (2004). These indicators were payment of state unemployment (UI) taxes, payment of Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes, presence of a legal status for the business, use of an Employer Identification Number (EIN), and use of Schedule C to report business income on a personal tax return.

A self‐administered web survey and computer‐assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) were used for data collection.

Over time several changes in the original sample of businesses occurred and went for different reasons out of the panel. Due to panel attrition the number of units is becoming slightly smaller each year. Since only the 2004 cohort is under study, no continuous refreshment is planned. At the time being the Kauffman Firm Survey (KFS) is a panel study of 4,928 businesses founded in 2004 and tracked over their early years of operation. Until September 2020, the University of Chicago NORC Data Enclave has been managing a secure remote access to the KFS confidential microdata file access for researchers. Free access was allowed. After September 2020, access to the KFS is shifted towards a fee-based model.

Objective of the panel survey is to provide information about creation and development aspects on new businesses (especially of high‐technology and women‐owned businesses). Firm characteristics, revenue and expenses, profit and loss, owner characteristics, and, since 2007, information about predominant markets and Internet sales are also collected.