FR2060_20160630_omb_B

Supporting Statement B for the
Survey to Obtain Information on the Relevant Market in Individual Merger Cases
(FR 2060; OMB No. 7100-0232)
Overview of the Sample Selection Process
Sampling Procedures
For the consumer component of the survey, the population of interest consists of all
households located in the geographic area that the Reserve Bank defines as the market. The unit
of observation is the household. The respondent will be the financial head of the household or
other financially knowledgeable adult.
For the business component of the survey, the population of interest consists of all
business enterprises that had revenues of less than $1,000,000 in the past year and that had an
establishment in the designated geographic market area. However, there may be rare occasions
where information from business enterprises with more than $1,000,000 in annual revenue would
be considered necessary. The unit of observation is the business enterprise. The respondent will
be an individual who is responsible for the lending relationships and financial decision-making
in the firm. That individual may be the owner, chief executive officer, president, treasurer, or
comptroller.
A random sample will be drawn from listings in the local telephone directory using a
random number table to select a page and then to select an entry on the page. The residential
listings will be used for the consumer survey. The business white pages will be used for the
business survey. In the event that business white pages do not exist, the yellow pages will be
used.
The number of listings selected should be large enough to yield fifty completed
household interviews and twenty-five completed business interviews. The proportion of blank
listings (for example, listings with the number not working or that do not belong to a small
business or household) and the response rate must be estimated to determine the number of
listings to be selected.
A small number of screening questions will be required to determine whether a listing is
an element of the population. If the survey yields substantially fewer than the desired number of
completed interviews, perhaps because of an underestimate of the number of blank listings, then
the first sample may be supplemented by a second random drawing. New listings, however, will
not be allowed to substitute for refusals. Not at home will be treated as a refusal but efforts
should be made to re-contact.
Sampling Errors
The following tables present sampling errors, for the target sample sizes, across various
hypothetical population sizes and across selected percentages of household or business
respondents that do something asked in the survey.

Table 1
Sampling Errors for Survey of Consumers
(Sample Size of 50 Households)
Sampling error (plus or minus, in percentage points) for a population of:

Percentage of households
that do something asked in
the survey

2,000
households

4,000
households

10,000
households

20,000
households

90

9

9

9

9

70

13

13

13

13

50

14

14

14

14

30

13

13

13

13

10

9

9

9

9

Table 2
Sampling Errors for Survey of Business
(Sample Size of 25 Businesses)
Sampling error (plus or minus, in percentage points) for a population of:
Percentage of businesses
that do something asked in
the survey

120
businesses

240
businesses

600
businesses

1,200
businesses

90

11

12

12

12

70

17

18

18

19

50

18

19

20

20

30

17

18

18

19

10

11

12

12

12

2