Cross sectional survey, stratified, weighted

Survey research poster

A survey research poster should put its response rate and weighting where a reviewer looks first, not in a footnote. This A0 landscape example runs four numbers across the middle of the board, 1,204 responses, 61.2 percent allowing remote work, 24.8 percent under ten staff and 78.5 percent at 50 to 199, each with its interval underneath.

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The whole board

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Six in ten small businesses still allow remote work, but only a quarter of those under ten staff

B. Castellano ¹, M. Ngata ¹, R. Lindberg ²

1 Institute for Business Research, Pemberton University · 2 Small Business Council

Abstract

Three years after the pandemic forced the experiment, this survey asked 4,110 small businesses drawn from the national business register whether they still allow remote work, and 1,204 answered, a 29.3 percent response. Weighted to the register by size band and industry, 61.2 percent allow remote work at least one day a week (95% CI 57.9 to 64.5). The headline hides a steep size gradient: 24.8 percent among businesses with fewer than ten staff against 78.5 percent among those with 50 to 199, with the two middle bands in between at 55.3 and 68.7. The response rate, the weighting and the design effect are printed on this board where a reviewer looks for them, in the methods block and the ribbon of four numbers across the middle, because a survey estimate without them is a number without a pedigree.

Background

Remote work statistics are dominated by large employers with HR systems and survey panels, while the businesses that employ most of the workforce answer a different question: whether the owner can spare anyone from the counter, the site or the workshop. Earlier waves of this survey sampled differently each year, so drift in the estimate could not be separated from drift in the sample. This wave fixed the frame to the national business register, stratified by size and industry, and weighted the answers back to it, so the headline describes the small business population rather than the businesses easiest to reach. The Small Business Council's question was blunt: is remote work a settled feature of small business employment, or a large firm habit that never reached the small end? Figure 1 answers it in both directions at once.

METHODS

Frame. National business register, 4,110 businesses with 1 to 199 staff, stratified by size band and industry.

Mode. Online questionnaire, 22 items, 9 minutes median completion, fielded over 6 weeks with three reminders.

Response. 1,204 completes, 29.3 percent of invited; band counts 512, 236, 242 and 214 from smallest to largest.

Weighting. Post stratification to register counts by size band and industry; design effect 1.4, effective n about 860.

Estimates. Weighted percentages with 95 percent confidence intervals; unweighted figures printed once for comparison.

1,204

responses

29.3% of 4,110 invited from the register

61.2%

allow remote work at least weekly

weighted; 95% CI 57.9 to 64.5

24.8%

among businesses under ten staff

n = 512, 95% CI 20.6 to 29.0

78.5%

among 50 to 199 staff

n = 214, 95% CI 72.0 to 85.0

Allow remote work weekly (%)

Figure 1. Share allowing remote work at least weekly, by staff size band, weighted. Band samples: 512, 236, 242 and 214 responses.

Source: Trial dataset, 2026.

Results

The size gradient is the finding: 24.8, 55.3, 68.7 and 78.5 percent across the four bands, a 54 point spread from smallest to largest, and the four band samples sum to the 1,204 total. Industry splits ran from 84.1 percent in professional services to 31.6 in retail and 22.4 in construction. The weighted overall figure of 61.2 percent sits above the unweighted 53.9 because the weights repair the sample's industry mix: professional services, the most remote friendly industry, responded below its register share, and post stratification restores it. Both numbers are printed, and every band interval in the ribbon contains its point estimate, the ten second arithmetic check a reader can run.

Discussion

Two cautions bound the headline. A 29.3 percent response leaves room for non response bias, and its likely direction is stated rather than waved at: businesses with an office email culture were easier to reach and are more likely to allow remote work, so 61.2 percent is best read as the top of the plausible range. And the survey measured policy, not practice; an owner who allows remote work that nobody takes counts as yes. The size gradient is robust to both concerns, because both would have to operate differently by band to create a 54 point spread. The next wave adds a practice question: days actually worked remotely last week.

CONCLUSION

Remote work has settled into the small business population unevenly: a majority policy overall at 61.2 percent, a minority one below ten staff at 24.8. Any program that treats small businesses as one audience will miss the half of the register where remote work never arrived, and the size gradient, not the headline, is the number policy should be built on. The frame, the response and the weighting sit beside the estimates they qualify.

61.2% allow weekly remote work, weighted

24.8% under ten staff, 78.5% at 50 to 199

Response 29.3%, weighted to the register

Next wave measures practice, not policy

REFERENCES

1.Castellano B, Ngata M. Small business survey frames and response: five waves compared. Business Research Methods 2025;18(1):40-57.

2.Lindberg R, Castellano B. Post stratification weighting for register based business surveys. Survey Statistics Notes 2024;9(3):122-137.

3.Ngata M, Adler Y. Policy against practice in workplace flexibility reporting. Employment Studies Briefs 2023;6(2):71-85.

Block by block

What each block on the board is for, in the order a reader walks it.

Title band and authors: The title carries both halves of the finding: six in ten allow remote work, but only a quarter of the smallest businesses. The Small Business Council that commissioned the question appears as the second affiliation, and the QR code links the questionnaire and data tables.
Abstract and introduction: The abstract gives the frame, the response and the weighted headline with its interval in four sentences. The introduction explains why the frame matters: earlier waves sampled differently each year, so this wave fixed the frame to the national register and weighted the answers back to it.
Methods: frame, mode, response, weighting: Five labelled entries carry what AAPOR minded reviewers check: the register frame of 4,110 businesses stratified by size and industry, the 22 item online mode, the 1,204 completes at 29.3 percent, the post stratification weighting with design effect 1.4 and effective n near 860, and the estimation approach.
The stat ribbon: four numbers: Four stat blocks run across the middle: 1,204 responses, 61.2 percent allowing weekly remote work, 24.8 percent under ten staff, 78.5 percent at 50 to 199. Each carries its interval or denominator underneath, so the ribbon is four defensible estimates, not four slogans.
Share by size band (Figure 1): Four bars climb from 24.8 to 55.3 to 68.7 to 78.5 percent across the size bands, and the caption prints the band samples, 512, 236, 242 and 214, which sum to the 1,204 total. The gradient, not the average, is the finding a policy reader needs.
Results: The results block adds the industry spread, professional services at 84.1 percent against construction at 22.4, and explains the gap between the weighted 61.2 and unweighted 53.9: the weights repair the industry mix of the sample. Printing both numbers makes the weighting checkable rather than mysterious.
Discussion: Two cautions with their directions: non response likely leans toward businesses that allow remote work, so the headline reads as the top of the plausible range, and the survey measured policy, not practice. The size gradient survives both, because they would have to vary by band to create it.
Conclusion points and references: Four bullets: the weighted headline, the two extreme bands, the response and weighting, and the next wave measuring practice. The three references are invented for this fictional study, because the reference block is required on this layout; on your board, replace them with your sources.
How to adapt this board: Choose your four ribbon numbers in this order: the sample, the response, the headline estimate and the biggest split, each with its interval or denominator in the detail line. Chart your main split as bars ordered by group, print weighted and unweighted once each, and state the design effect in methods.

What makes this board work

Response rate is a headline number

The 29.3 percent response sits in the ribbon as the first stat with its 4,110 denominator, not in a footnote, which tells a reviewer the authors know it is the number that qualifies every other one.

Weighting is explained where the number is

The results text says why the weighted 61.2 sits above the unweighted 53.9, the weights repair the industry mix, and methods prints the design effect of 1.4 with the effective n near 860.

Band sizes sum to the sample

The caption prints 512, 236, 242 and 214, which add to the 1,204 in the first stat block, so the chart, the ribbon and the methods block reconcile on one calculator pass.

Questions people ask

What goes on a survey research poster?

The frame, the mode, the response rate, the weighting, the headline estimates with intervals and one split that carries the story. This board gives the first four a methods block and a ribbon stat each, and spends its single chart on the size gradient rather than a second headline.

How do I choose four headline numbers?

Sample, response, the main estimate and the biggest defensible split. That is the ribbon on this board: 1,204, then 29.3 percent inside the first stat detail, then 61.2 percent weighted, then the two extreme size bands. Resist putting four findings up; two of the four should be about credibility.

Should I show weighted or unweighted results?

Weighted, everywhere, with the unweighted figure printed once so the effect of weighting is visible. This board shows 61.2 weighted against 53.9 unweighted in results and explains the gap in one sentence. A gap you explain reads as rigour; a gap someone else finds reads as a problem.

Which chart suits survey results?

Vertical bars by group for a single question split, which is what this board charts by size band. Keep intervals in the caption or text rather than as error bars when bars are few and the gradient is large; the 54 point spread here needs no embellishment to be convincing.

Where do the questionnaire items go?

Behind the QR code, as on this board, with the item count and median completion time stated in methods. Reviewers want to know the instrument exists and how long it took; they do not want 22 items on an A0 board that has four estimates to defend.

What about non response bias?

Name its likely direction in the discussion, as this board does: businesses with an office email culture were easier to reach and lean toward allowing remote work, so the headline is the top of the plausible range. A stated direction beats a generic limitation sentence every time.

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Sources

Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked 2 September 2026.