SAES-422 Multistate Research Activity Accomplishments Report
Sections
Status: Approved
Basic Information
- Project No. and Title: NC1100 : A Systems Perspective to Community Resilience: Rural healthcare at the intersection of households and businesses
- Period Covered: 10/04/2025 to 11/19/2025
- Date of Report: 12/12/2025
- Annual Meeting Dates: 11/19/2025 to 11/19/2025
Participants
Zuzana Bednarik, Purdue University Kathryn Boys, North Caroline State University Wookjae Heo, Purdue University Cynthia Jasper, University of Wisconsin-Madison Jae Min Lee, Minnesota State University, Mankato Bhagyashree Katare, Purdue University Maria Marshall, Purdue University Renee Wiatt, Purdue University Michael Wilcox, Purdue University
Accomplishments
We used data from the NCR-Stat: Small Business Survey write data snapshots and white papers focused rural small businesses in the NCR that can be found here https://ncrcrd.ag.purdue.edu/ncr-stat/ncr-stat-small-business-survey/. The survey focuses on the intersection of small businesses, benefits, and rural health. The dataset contains information on small business owners, copreneurs, small business benefits, recovery friendly workplaces, workforce development, trust and community, adjustment strategies, socioemotional wealth, financials, and business owners’ households.
We also worked with the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development to expand the caregiving survey to the northeast region. Thus, allowing for cross regional data collection. The Caregiving survey is available in the NCR and the NER with survey responses for 9,012 households. That data are open access and can be found at https://ncrcrd.ag.purdue.edu/ncr-stat/ncr-stat-caregiving-survey/. In collaboration with the NERCRD we presented at academic conferences and have published a journal article focused on rural caregivers.
We developed and collected data for NCR-Stat: Baseline 2024 which was made public in 2025. The survey was developed in collaboration with the other three regional rural development centers, making it a national survey with over 16,000 households surveyed. The survey explores topics related to household, business (farm and nonfarm), and community wellbeing. It is the second regional baseline survey focused on the NCR allowing for time-series analysis. Building on the 2022 survey, the NCR-Stat: Baseline 2024 survey features both adapted and expanded questions, introducing new topics like moving and staying behaviors and the recreation economy. The new questions on the recreational economy were developed in collaboration with the National Extension Tourism Network and resulted in an Outdoor Recreation Dashboard created by the University of Minnesota Tourism Center.
We have also disseminated work from across the NCR through the NCRCRD webinar series which can be found at https://ncrcrd.ag.purdue.edu/webinars/.
Impacts
- There is a lack of data that allows researchers to study rural households across the North Central Region; in particular, data that provides information on economics, health, housing, and social behavior. There is also a lack of data on rural small businesses, the benefits they provide and the wellbeing of small business owners. Making NCR-Stat open access and available decreases the barriers for institutions to study regional changes and trends and conduct comparative research. Moreover, regional data collection encourages collaboration between research and Extension and high- and low-resource institutions across the region. NC1100 via the NCRCRD network has facilitated regional collaboration with members of the other Regional Rural Development Centers, NC1030, NC2172, and the National Extension Tourism Network for survey development. NCRCRD collected the data and made the data open access. The aim is to increase research publications and research-based Extension curricula. The NCR-Stat database now includes the NCR-Stat: Baseline 2022 and 2024, NCR-Stat: Caregiving, and NCR-Stat: Small Business datasets. This database enhances collaboration between institutions across the region and nationally. We also publish data snapshots that allow individuals to learn about the NCR without having to download the data. More importantly, we provided opportunities for graduate students to work with large datasets and author outreach articles. Four M.S. graduate students wrote theses using the datasets. The datasets are being used in both undergraduate and graduate classes. Both graduate and undergraduate students have published short research articles and published theses using the data. The data have been viewed 5232 times and have 774 downloads. We also collaborated with the Southern Rural Development Center, the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development, and the Western Rural Development Center to expand the 2024 baseline survey into a national survey. That data for all four regions (NCR-Stat, NER-Stat, SR-Stat, and WR-Stat) were made available open access starting in May 2025 and can be found at https://ncrcrd.ag.purdue.edu/ncr-stat/. The data have 3,922 views and 648 downloads.
Grants, Contracts & Other Resources Obtained
Publications
Publications
Wiatt, R., M.I. Marshall, and Y.G. Lee. 2024. Love of Work or Love and Work: Does Small Business Owners Compulsion to Work Payoff? Journal of Family and Economic Issues. 45(4): 925-938. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-024-09949-9
Malone, Jr., D. (2025, July). Partners in Business, Partners in Life: A Snapshot of Couple Businesses in the North Central Region. North Central Regional Center for Rural Development. https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.359031
Wiatt, R. D. (2025, July). Trends for Rural Small Businesses in the North Central Region: Owner and Small Business Demographics. North Central Regional Center for Rural Development. https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.3592223
Bednarik, Z., and Unay‐Gailhard, İ. (2025). Who Stays in Rural Areas? Understanding Gender Differences in Location Decisions Among Millennials in the United States. Population, Space and Place: Volume 31 (Issue 6). https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.70076
Pojman, E., Becot, F., Bednarik, Z. and Henning-Smith, C. (2025). Does Caregiver Well-Being Differ by Rurality and State Policy Environment? Identifying a Well-Being Typology for Rural, Suburban, and Urban Caregivers. Rural Sociology 9 (3). https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.70015
Yeganeh, A., M. Marshall, and N. Durst. 2025. Aerial Imagery-Derived Dataset of Manufactured Housing Communities in the North Central United States. Scientific Data, 12, 1515. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05875-z
Webinars
Bednarik, Z., Marshall, M., & Green, J. (2025, May 9). Regional Pulse: Insights from the 2024 multi-region household surveys [Webinar]. North Central Regional Center for Rural Development.
University of Minnesota Tourism Center. (2025). Outdoor Recreation Dashboard. University of Minnesota Extension. https://prayash106.shinyapps.io/dashboard/
Conference Presentations
Bednarik, Z. (2025, June 10). NCR-Stat: Datasets: Empowering Cross-Regional Research and Extension in Community Development. [Conference presentation]. National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals 2025 Annual Conference, Charleston, WV.
Pojman, E., Becot, F., Bednarik, Z., and Henning-Smith, C. (2025) Does caregiver well-being differ by rurality and state policy environment? Identifying a well-being typology for rural, suburban, and urban caregivers. [Conference presentation]. Rural Sociology Society Meeting. Salt Lake City, UT.
Southard, E. and Becot, F. (2025) Caregiving Along the Life Course Among Farming Households. [Conference presentation]. Rural Sociological Society Meeting. Salt Lake City, UT.
Mukembo, S.C., Nabisaalu, J.K., and Marshall, M.I. Trust and community embeddedness: Entrepreneur’s wellbeing as a pathway to small business financial performance in the North Central Region of the United States. [Conference presentation]. USASBE 2025.
Marshall, M.I., R.D. Wiatt, and Y.G. Lee. Planning to Exit: A Cross-Racial Analysis of Small Business Owner Decision-Making. [Conference presentation]. SBI, New Orleans April 2025