Maryland Business Climate Survey Methodology
The Maryland Business Climate Survey offers an unparalleled resource for analyzing both the direction and perception of the state’s economy. The Jacob France Institute introduced the survey in the second quarter of 1995, inspired by work it was doing for the Maryland Chamber of Commerce and some of the state’s leading corporations in developing a business-oriented strategic plan for Maryland. For more than a decade, the survey took the pulse of the business community and contributed to a better understanding of the issues facing businesses in all corners of the state. The survey was again conducted in 2011 and 2012, but was discontinued in 2013.
Now, the University of Baltimore’s Merrick School of Business and the Jacob France Institute have teamed up with the Maryland Public Policy Institute to bring back and disseminate the results of the Business Climate Survey to a significantly wider audience. Each quarter, telephone interviews are conducted with senior executives in 250 businesses with 10 or more employees.
Our goal is to have 1,000 completed surveys by the end of the calendar year —a standard sample size for many types of surveys seeking a margin of error of 3 percent. But we feel strongly that releasing a quarterly update—culled from a smaller sample—provides insights into the state business conditions on a more timely basis. Therefore, each quarter’s update should be considered a partial report rather than a more conclusive year-long assessment.
Updates to the Maryland Business Climate Survey will be released at the end of each quarter, and at the end of the year, a full report will be produced that compiles the result of the previous four quarters.
Richard Clinch, Ph.D., director of economic research at the Jacob France Institute at the University of Baltimore
Christopher B. Summers, president and chief executive officer of the Maryland Public Policy Institute.