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207 Appendix B Research Methods The low-income microentrepreneurs in this study participated in the Aspen Institute ’s Self-Employment Learning Project (SELP), a five-year study of entrepreneurs from microenterprise development programs around the United States.1 When the Aspen Institute initiated this study, little was known about microenterprise in the United States. Today, SELP remains one of the few and one of the largest studies of its kind. After conducting case studies and program profiles of the seven microenterprise programs and surveying 405 randomly selected microentrepreneurs from the programs, researchers at SELP and their collaborators in microenterprise programs and funding agencies, decided to learn more about the low-income participants in the sample. Because the field of microenterprise was concerned about the anti-poverty potential of microenterprise , only those with incomes below 150 percent of poverty were selected for inclusion in the study’s fourth wave of data collection. At the same time, it was decided to approach data collection through in-depth interviewing, which would generate a qualitative portrait of the low-income microenterprise experience that was not captured by the annual surveys. SELP evaluators asked researchers at the Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University to design and implement the in-depth interview study for Wave Four. Using a mixed methods approach (Hulme, 1997), this book is derived in large measure from the qualitative findings from Wave Four, but also relies on other data sources from SELP. These include reanalysis of respondent survey data, including closeended and open-ended responses from the Wave One survey. Although entrepreneurs were selected randomly, it is important to note that this study, like the larger SELP study, does not employ a control group. Thus, results are suggestive and require future testing with a larger sample in a case-controlled design. Annual Survey Interviews with Entrepreneurs Demographic information and measures of microenterprise outcomes come from survey data collected by SELP between 1991 and 1996. Additionally data are drawn from published and unpublished baseline results from the first three waves and the fifth wave of the study, in addition to program case studies (Clark & Huston, 1993; Clark & Kays, 1995; Edgcomb, et al., 1996; Clark & Kays, et al., 1999).2 Wave One (1991–92) and Wave Two (1992–93) of the survey were designed and collected by James Bell Associates in collaboration with SELP staff. Wave Three (1994–95) was designed and managed by SELP staff partnering with Abt Associates who were responsible for data verification, survey design, and data processing. Wave Five (1996) was managed by SELP and data were processed by Abt Associates, although some of the data were collected by CSD at the end of the qualitative interview.3 Annual survey interviews were conducted by telephone and lasted approximately one hour each, although the first two survey interviews were longer than the last two. Generally, surveys addressed the following topics: (1) basic demographic and household information about the entrepreneur and family; (2) primary and secondary sources of earnings and household income; (3) household economic characteristics, including details about each source of earned and unearned income (e.g., jobs, business, and government assistance), as well as household expenses, household liabilities, and assets; (4) business characteristics, including description, hours devoted to business, employees, revenues, expenses, assets, liabilities, and significant annual changes; (5) an assessment of how the business is prospering, including barriers and supports; (6) a description of program participation, including training, peer group, loan history, technical assistance, and other activities, and an assessment of impact; and (7) access to workplace or business benefits, including health insurance. Despite similarities, the survey interviews differed in significant ways. While Waves One and Two established baseline information and incorporated many openended questions on the development and impact of the business, Wave Five data collection focused narrowly on household and business data. To illustrate, the Wave One survey asked about entrepreneur’s previous full-time job and experience related to the business, and business start-up characteristics (e.g., sources of capital and other supports, customers, suppliers, markets, and financial records) and open-ended questions about business barriers and program evaluation. By Wave Five, the survey basically covered sources of income and earnings, business status, and household and business expenses, revenues, assets, and liabilities. Answers to open-ended questions had not been analyzed and reported previously; therefore, we include some of these data here. In-Depth Interviews with Low-Income Entrepreneurs The first step in developing in-depth interviews was to discuss findings from the first three...

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