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INTRODUCTION

1 This publication presents results of employing market research businesses, for reference year 2001–02. This is the third time the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has conducted this survey. Previous statistics were released for 1992–93 and 1998–99.


SCOPE

2 The scope of the survey was all employing businesses classified to 7853 (Market Research Services) of the 1993 edition of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC). For the purposes of this survey, market research services are defined to include the investigation and compilation of data on market potential, acceptance and familiarity of products, and buying habits of consumers. It also involves the investigation of public opinion about political, economic and social issues. Businesses mainly providing business consultancy services and/or business marketing services were excluded from the survey.


COVERAGE

3 The frame used for market research services, like most ABS economic surveys, was taken from the ABS Business Register. The ABS Business Register is primarily based on registrations to the Australian Taxation Office's (ATO) pay-as-you-go withholding (PAYGW) scheme, and prior to 1 July 2000 the group employer (GE) scheme. The frame is updated quarterly to take account of new businesses and businesses which have ceased employing.

4 Businesses which have ceased employing are identified when the Australian Taxation Office cancels their PAYGW registration (or previously their GE registration). In addition, from July 1999, businesses which did not remit under the GE scheme for the previous five quarters were removed from the frame. A similar process has recently been adopted to remove businesses which do not remit under the PAYGW scheme.

5 The introduction of The New Tax System has a number of significant implications for ABS business statistics, and these are discussed in the Information Papers: ABS Statistics and The New Tax System (cat. no. 1358.0) and Improvements in ABS Economic Statistics [Arising from The New Tax System] (cat. no. 1372.0).


IMPROVEMENTS TO COVERAGE

6 Data in this publication have been adjusted to allow for lags in processing new businesses to the ABS Business Register, and the omission of some businesses from the register. The majority of businesses affected, and to which the adjustments apply, are small in size.

7 Adjustments have been made to include new businesses in the estimates in the periods in which they commenced operations, rather than when they were processed to the ABS Business Register. Adjustments of this type will continue to be applied in future periods.

8 For more information on these adjustments, please refer to the ABS publication Information Paper: Improvements to ABS Economic Statistics, 1997 (cat. no. 1357.0).


STATISTICAL UNIT

9 In the market research survey, the statistical unit used to represent businesses, and for which statistics are reported, is the Australian Business Number unit (ABN), in most cases. The ABN unit is the business unit which has registered for an ABN, and thus appears on the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) administered Australian Business Register. This unit is suitable for ABS statistical needs when the business is simple in structure. For more significant and diverse businesses where the ABN unit is not suitable for ABS statistical needs, the statistical unit used is the type of activity unit (TAU). A TAU is comprised of one or more business entities, sub-entities or branches of a business entity within an Enterprise Group that can report production and employment data for similar economic activities. When a minimum set of data items is available, a TAU is created which covers all the operations within an industry subdivision (and the TAU is classified to the relevant subdivision of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC)). Where a business cannot supply adequate data for each industry, a TAU is formed which contains activity in more than one industry subdivision and the TAU is classified to the predominant ANZSIC subdivision.

10 Further details about the ABS economic statistical units used in this survey, and in other ABS economic surveys (both sample surveys and censuses), can be found in Chapter 2 of the Standard Economic Sector Classifications of Australia (SESCA), 2002 (cat. no. 1218.0).


COMPARISON WITH OTHER ABS STATISTICS

11 Annual data for market research businesses is published in Australian Industry (cat. no. 8155.0). There are important differences between the statistics published in the Australian Industry and Market Research Services publications and users should use caution when making comparisons between the two sets of estimates. The estimates in the Australian Industry publication provide a consistent annual measure of economic activity by industry (as defined by the ANZSIC), which allows the analysis of year on year change in key data items for market research businesses.

12 The Australian Industry publication presents summary statistics for detailed ANZSIC industry classes. The aims of the publication are to show the relative importance of each industry class to the Australian economy, and to allow patterns of change or growth to be analysed across detailed segments of the Australian economy. The industry estimates presented in Australian Industry are used in the compilation of the National Accounts, and in the derivation of economy-wide indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP).

13 The Market Research Services publication complements the annual series of key data items for the industry with a detailed examination of the structure of market research businesses for the reference year of the survey.

14 The main difference between the estimates for the two surveys was coverage of non-employing units in Australian Industry.


HISTORICAL COMPARISONS

15 While comparisons are made between 2001–02 and earlier survey results, the reader should bear in mind that the survey has not been designed to support accurate estimates of change and should exercise caution.

16 When comparing 2001–02 results to those of 1998–99, changes have been made to the table describing income from market research by type of client. In 1998–99, businesses were asked to report by sphere of work (i.e. the topic the market research service related to), but now the table has been redesigned to collect data relating to the business the client is actually in regardless of the topic to which the market service relates. The category titles and wording of the definitions and survey questions have been updated to better describe the concepts and terms that are used. The results of this redesign and update are presented in table 2.2.

17 Caution should be used with comparisons to the 1992–93 results, as the 1992–93 survey used a different source for identifying the population of market research businesses.


STATE AND TERRITOTY DATA

18 Data was collected from the Australia-wide operations of each market research business. Businesses which operated in more than one state or territory, were asked to provide a dissection of total income, employment and wages and salaries to enable state and territory statistics to be compiled and comparisons undertaken.


RELIABILITY OF THE DATA

19 When interpreting the results of a survey, it is important to take into account factors that may affect reliability of the estimates. Such factors can be classified as either sampling or non-sampling error. The estimates presented in this publication are subject to sampling and non-sampling error.

20 The estimates in this publication are based on information obtained from a sample of businesses in the surveyed population. Consequently, the estimates in this publication are subject to sampling variability, that is, they may differ from the figures that would have been obtained if all units had been included in the survey. One measure of the likely difference is given by the standard error (SE), which indicated the extent to which an estimate might have varied by chance because only a sample of units was included.

21 There are about two chances in three that a sample estimate will differ by less than one SE from the figure that would have been obtained had a census been conducted, and approximately 19 chances in 20 that the difference will be less than two SEs.

22 Sampling variability can be measured by the relative standard error (RSE) which is obtained by expressing the SE as a percentage of the estimate to which it refers. The RSE is a useful measure in that it provides an immediate indication of the percentage errors likely to have occurred due to sampling, and this avoids the need to refer also to the size of the estimate.

23 The following table contains estimates of RSEs for a selection of the statistics presented in this publication.

RELATIVE STANDARD ERRORS FOR SUMMARY OF OPERATIONS
	2001-02
	%
Businesses at end June	11.3
Employment at end June
Client services, research, design and analysis	7.7
Administrative support	11.6
Data collection/processing	0.9
Other	24.2
Total	2.0
Income
Income from market research services
Qualitative research	32.3
Quantitative research	1.1
Other (including desk research)	5.8
Total market research income	10.1
Other income	7.1
Total	9.9
Expenses
Labour costs	4.9
Other expenses	12.0
Total	8.2
Operating profit before tax	25.9
Operating profit margin	17.9