Enterprise Survey 2009
Sierra Leone, 2008 - 2009
Get MicrodataIdentification
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Sierra Leone | SLE |
The Enterprise Survey initiative includes two types of surveys: Enterprise Surveys and Indicator Surveys. This study is an Indicator Survey. An Indicator Survey is similar to an Enterprise Survey; it is implemented for smaller economies where the sampling strategies inherent in an Enterprise Survey are often not applicable due to the limited universe of firms. The survey instrument is limited to just those questions which form the basis of the global indicators as presented on the Enterprise Surveys website https://www.enterprisesurveys.org.
The objective of the survey is to obtain feedback from enterprises on the state of the private sector as well as to help in building a panel of enterprise data that will make it possible to track changes in the business environment over time, thus allowing, for example, impact assessments of reforms. Through interviews with firms in the manufacturing and services sectors, the survey assesses the constraints to private sector growth and creates statistically significant business environment indicators that are comparable across countries.
Questionnaire topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, land and permits, taxation, business-government relations, performance measures, AIDS and sickness. The mode of data collection is face-to-face interviews.
Coverage
National
Regions covered are selected based on the number of establishments, contribution to employment, and value added. In most cases these regions are metropolitan areas and reflect the largest centers of economic activity in a country.
The whole population, or the universe, covered in the Enterprise Surveys is the non-agricultural economy. It comprises: all manufacturing sectors according to the ISIC Revision 3.1 group classification (group D), construction sector (group F), services sector (groups G and H), and transport, storage, and communications sector (group I). Note that this population definition excludes the following sectors: financial intermediation (group J), real estate and renting activities (group K, except sub-sector 72, IT, which was added to the population under study), and all public or utilities sectors.
Producers and sponsors
| Name |
|---|
| World Bank |
| Name |
|---|
| World Bank |
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| TNS opinion |
Assistance in survey coordination |
| Steadman Group |
Assistance in survey coordination |
Sampling
The sample for registered establishments in Sierra Leone was selected using stratified random sampling. Three levels of stratification were used in the Sierra Leone sample: firm sector, firm size, and geographic region.
Industry stratification was designed as follows: the universe was stratified into one manufacturing industry and one services industry (retail).
Size stratification was defined following the standardized definition used for the Indicator Surveys: small (5 to 19 employees), medium (20 to 99 employees), and large (more than 99 employees). For stratification purposes, the number of employees was defined on the basis of reported permanent full-time workers.
Regional stratification was defined in terms of the geographic regions with the largest commercial presence in the country: Kenema and W/A Urban.
It was possible to obtain a single usable frame for Sierra Leone. The frame acquired for Sierra Leone was the database for the Census of Business Establishments 2005 provided by Statistics Sierra Leone.
The quality of the frame was assessed at the onset of the project and was not immune from the typical problems found in establishment surveys: positive rates of non-eligibility, repetition, non-existent units, etc. Given the impact that non-eligible units included in the sample universe may have on the results, adjustments may be needed when computing the appropriate weights for individual observations. The percentage of confirmed non-eligible units as a proportion of the total number of sampled establishments contacted for the survey was 0.82% (3 out of 365 establishments for the sample).
There was a high response rate especially as a result of positive attitude towards the international community in collaboration with the government in their reconstruction efforts after a period of civil strife. It is period in which a lot of statistics is being collected by the Sierra Leone Statistics for reconstruction thus most respondents are enlightened on research benefits.
Complete information regarding the sampling methodology, sample frame, weights, response rates, and implementation can be found in "Description of Sierra Leone Implementation 2009" in "Technical Documents" folder.
For some units it was impossible to determine eligibility because the contact was not successfully completed. Consequently, different assumptions as to their eligibility result in different universe cells' adjustments and in different sampling weights. Three sets of assumptions were considered:
a- Strict assumption: eligible establishments are only those for which it was possible to directly determine eligibility.
b- Median assumption: eligible establishments are those for which it was possible to directly determine eligibility and those that rejected the screener questionnaire or an answering machine or fax was the only response. Median weights are used for computing indicators on the www.enterprisesurveys.org.
c- Weak assumption: in addition to the establishments included in points a and b, all establishments for which it was not possible to finalize a contact are assumed eligible. This includes establishments with dead or out of service phone lines, establishments that never answered the phone, and establishments with incorrect addresses for which it was impossible to find a new address. Note that under the weak assumption only observed non-eligible units are excluded from universe projections.
Survey instrument
The current survey instruments are available:
- Services and Manufacturing Questionnaire
- Screener Questionnaire.
The standard Enterprise Survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, business-government relations, innovation and technology, and performance measures. Over 90% of the questions objectively ascertain characteristics of a country’s business environment. The remaining questions assess the survey respondents’ opinions on what are the obstacles to firm growth and performance.
Data collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2008-09 | 2009-02 |
| Name |
|---|
| Musa Gbogboto, Private Consultant |
Complete information regarding the sampling methodology, sample frame, weights, response rates, and implementation can be found in "Description of Sierra Leone Implementation 2009" in "Technical Documents" folder.
Private contractors conduct the Enterprise Surveys on behalf of the World Bank. Due to sensitive survey questions addressing business-government relations and corruption-related topics, private contractors are preferred over any government agency or an organization/institution associated with government, and are hired by the World Bank to collect the data.
The Enterprise Surveys are usually implemented following a two-stage procedure. In the first stage, a screener questionnaire is applied over the phone to determine eligibility and to make appointments; in the second stage, a face-to-face interview takes place with the Manager/Owner/Director of each establishment. Sometimes the survey respondent calls company accountants and human resource managers into the interview to answer questions in the sales and labor sections of the survey.
All Enterprise Surveys are conducted in the local languages.
Data processing
Data entry and quality controls are implemented by the contractor and data is delivered to the World Bank in batches (typically 10%, 50% and 100%). These data deliveries are checked for logical consistency, out of range values, skip patterns, and duplicate entries. Problems are flagged by the World Bank and corrected by the implementing contractor through data checks, callbacks, and revisiting establishments.
Access policy
| Is signing of a confidentiality declaration required? | Confidentiality declaration text |
|---|---|
| yes |
Confidentiality of the survey respondents and the sensitive information they provide is necessary to ensure the greatest degree of survey participation, integrity and confidence in the quality of the data. Surveys are usually carried out in cooperation with business organizations and government agencies promoting job creation and economic growth, but confidentiality is never compromised. |
Aggregate indicators based on Enterprise Survey data are available to the public at https://www.enterprisesurveys.org
Firm-level data is also available to the public free-of-charge. In order to access the firm-level data, users must agree to abide by a strict confidentiality agreement available through Enterprise Analysis Unit website by clicking on "External users register here" at https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/Portal
Where necessary please site the source as "Enterprise Analysis Unit - World Bank Group https://www.enterprisesurveys.org"
Disclaimer and copyrights
The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
Contacts
| enterprisesurveys@worldbank.org |
Metadata production
| Name |
|---|
| Antonina Redko |