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About the surveys

The May 2005 Sensis® Business Index results are based on telephone interviews conducted with 1,800 small and medium business proprietors. The sample size is divided between 1,400 small businesses and 400 medium businesses (the latter defined as businesses employing between 20 and 199 people). Businesses interviewed for the May 2005 Sensis® Business Index were drawn from all metropolitan and major non-metropolitan regions within Australia. Quotas were set on geographical location and type of business in order to produce the standard sample structure shown below. At the analysis stage, results were weighted by selected Australian New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) divisions within the metropolitan and non-metropolitan region of each state and territory. This ensured the sample reflected the actual small and medium business population distribution. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Business Register, as at June 1998, was used to weight the sample to be representative of the total business population.

Open an enlarged version of this table

Open an enlarged version of this table

The Sensis® Consumer Report is based on a survey of 1,500 Australians which commenced in May 2004 in conjunction with the Sensis® Business Index to enable the measurement of consumer behaviour, as well as the interaction between demand and supply in the Australian economy. To ensure a good cross representation across the states and territories and by demographics, quotas were set on age, gender and location as detailed in the charts below. The results have been weighted according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) population figures (2001 Census) so that results more closely reflect the population distribution within each state and territory.

Open an enlarged version of this table

Open an enlarged version of this table

All interviews were conducted via telephone by the survey research firm, Sweeney Research over the period 18th April 2005 to 15 th May 2005. To enhance readability, charts in blue in this report contain data sourced from the Sensis® Business Index and charts in magenta are sourced from data from the Sensis® Consumer Report.

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• Document ID: 33020 |
• Last modified: 5 February 2008, 3:26pm