Monkey Business: DIY Survey Pioneer Teams Up with CNBC

In the US, business news provider CNBC has partnered with DIY online research firm SurveyMonkey to launch a quarterly survey of small business owners, which measures confidence nationwide while uncovering trends among specific types of companies and key geographic regions.

The first CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey was conducted from April 17th to 28th among a national sample of 2,030 self-identified small business owners aged 18+. Respondents were selected from the nearly three million people who take surveys on the SurveyMonkey platform each day, giving their views on subjects such as jobs, regulation, healthcare, US politics and the economy. Data for the quarter have been weighted to be representative of small business owners nationally, according to business characteristics from the Small Business Administration's 2013 Statistics of US Businesses, and owner characteristics from the Census Bureau's 2012 Survey of Business Owners.

In addition, SurveyMonkey has created a Small Business Confidence Index (SBCI), which is a 100-point score based on responses to eight questions. The first-ever SBCI has an overall value of 60, indicating that small business owners are more optimistic than pessimistic about the direction their business will go in the next twelve months.

Web sites: www.cnbc.com and www.surveymonkey.com .