FAQ on Project DC03Back

 Q1: Who should join the research team?
 Q2: Is there any requirement for joining the team?
 Q3: Is the research team a permanent or provisional body?
 Q4: Will there be any other kind of researches carried out by the team?
 Q5: Are there any guidelines on what I should do?
 Q6: Will I be rewarded for my work?
 Q7: What is the schedule and deadlines of Project DC03?
 Q8: Can I join the team if I could not attend the briefing session?
 Q9: Can I join the team by myself instead of in pair?
 Q10: Can I invite students from other universities to join the team?
 Q11: Do I have to submit individual written report?
 Q12: Will I have the chance to share my observations with other students?
 Q13: How can we keep in touch with each other?
 Q14: Whom can I ask for help if I encounter problems?
 Q15: How should I observe pre-election activities?
 Q16: Will I have the opportunity to talk to the candidates?
 Q17: Will I be seen as politically biased if I talk to the candidates?
 Q18: How should I observe election day campaign activities?
 Q19: What should I wear on the election day?
 Q20: Is there any other device I should bring along with me on the election day?
 Q21: Is there anything else I must bring along with me on the election day?
 Q22: Do I have the right to interview voters outside polling stations?
 Q23: Where should I stand during exit poll?
 Q24: How should I sample voters during exit poll?
 Q25: Can I tell people the result of my exit interviews?
 
 
Q1: Who should join the research team?
 
 
A1: The HKU Student Research Team emphasizes on doing high quality research work by self-initiative. Only students who are genuinely interested in current affairs, and are self-motivated to learn social research, should join the team. Project DC03 provides opportunities for students to study the political processes involved in popular elections, and to master the basic method and skills in conducting social surveys.
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Q2: Is there any requirement for joining the team?
 
 
A2: The only requirement is that you are a HKU student interested in current affairs and keen to learn social research. It doesn't matter whether you are a science student, an engineer student, a medical student, or architecture student. You do not need any previous experience in social research. Obviously, we expect you to honour your voluntary commitment, and behave responsibly in conducting research.
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Q3: Is the research team a permanent or provisional body?
 
 
A3: The Team now exists on an experimental basis. It is not yet under any student association, but will very likely do so in due course. When properly constitutionalized, the Team would be run by office bearers elected by Team members themselves. Depending on members' wish, membership of the Team may be extended to HKU alumni, associates and friends. For the time being, the Team is run by a small group of volunteers who are trying hard to avoid bureaucratic red tapes, and focus more on actual learning and achievement. We all work on self-motivation.
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Q4: Will there be any other kind of researches carried out by the team?
 
 
A4: We would like to concentrate on Project DC03 for the time being. If proven successful, we may conduct research to study mass demonstrations in Hong Kong, the 2004 presidential election in Taiwan, the 2004 Hong Kong Legislative Council Election, and so on, depending on members' interest. In 2000, Dr Robert Chung organized a team of students to observe the presidential election in Taipei, on a voluntary basis. There is no reason why we should not do so again next March. If you are really serious, please mark the date of March 20, 2004 (Saturday) on your diary, and reserve a week before that for a possible trip to Taiwan.
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Q5: Are there any guidelines on what I should do?
 
 
A5: Definitely. Different guidelines will be issued for different projects, some of them are presented in this set of FAQs.
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Q6: Will I be rewarded for my work?
 
 
A6: The reward comes from the learning process itself, and the experience of team work. There will not be any grade points, nor financial reward. All student researchers who complete the project to the satisfaction of the organizers will receive a certificate. The researchers who produce top-quality input to the study will receive a prize. The Honourary Advisors will select the prize winners.
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Q7: What is the schedule and deadlines of Project DC03?
 
 
A7: Please click on "Project Plan for District Council 2003 Election Studies" in this site and read the details. Our first briefing session will be held on November 7 (Fri) and two seminars will be held at later dates. On November 23, the Team will conduct election day observations and exit polls. The project will end before December 5 and the study report compiled by the organizers will be released in mid-December.
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Q8: Can I join the team if I could not attend the briefing session?
 
 
A8: Yes, but provided that commitment is made within 24 hours after the briefing session. This is because we need to work out our manpower deployment plan, and there are only two weeks left before the election. If you cannot attend the briefing session, you should read up all the information posted at our project website (go to http://hkupop.pori.hk, then click on "POP Resources", then click on "2003 District Council Election", then click on "HKU Student Research Team: Project DC03", enter account name = hkurt, password = hkusrt). If you decide to join the project after reading all the material, you should contact the project organizers as soon as possible before the deadline.
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Q9: Can I join the team by myself instead of in pair?
 
 
A9: Yes, in which case we will pair you up with a fellow student, and assign your group to a District Council constituency. We work in pairs in order to provide mutual support, but this is not a must.
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Q10: Can I invite students from other universities to join the team?
 
 
A10: Yes, but the organizers may want more information about your friends before accommodating them. This is because our first priority is to offer learning experience to fellow students in HKU. Our long-term objective, however, is to promote volunteerism and consolidate young people's interest in current affairs irrespective of their affiliation. Along this line of thought, there is no reason why we should not include students from other universities, secondary schools, alumni, and other young people in the long run.
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Q11: Do I have to submit individual written report?
 
 
A11: You will be guided step-by-step to observe and record campaign activities in the constituency assigned to you. After visiting your constituency, you will log-on our project website and fill in your fieldwork notes, which will be accessible by other project team members. The work is estimated to take about 30 minutes each time, there will not be any written assignment other than that.
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Q12: Will I have the chance to share my observations with other students?
 
 
A12: Definitely. Your observations will be uploaded to our project website, and made available to all Team members. In other words, everybody shares one's observation, findings, and feelings with everybody else. We also have a forum page in our website whereby we can discuss our observations openly. Access to our work, however, will be limited to Team members and project advisors only. After the project is complete, we will collate our findings, compile a report, and open them for public consumption.
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Q13: How can we keep in touch with each other?
 
 
A13: Other than sharing findings and observations on-line, Team members can also discuss freely in our on-line forum. From time to time, the whole team would meet in one single group for forums, visits, and other activities. For Project DC03, the organizers will also organize Team members into larger groups for easy communication and administration, probably according to the geographical distribution of designated DC constituencies.
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Q14: Whom can I ask for help if I encounter problems?
 
 
A14: Help will never be far away. During field observations and exit polls, Team members will be provided with a set of emergency contact numbers, whereby enquiries will be answered within a few calls. In other times, members can use email, icq, and on-line forum communicate with each other as well as their team leaders.
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Q15: How should I observe pre-election activities?
 
 
A15: While Team members will be provided with a standard form to report their observations regularly, the following guidelines compiled by Dr Sonny Lo should be useful:

  • Observe the number of posters of each candidate (rough number) that are posted on the shops--perhaps an indicator of the thrust of the campaign, but this cannot guarantee electoral victory.
  • Get the leaflets and campaign pamphlets of candidates.
  • Note where the candidates campaign, how they do it, and also the response from potential voters (cool or lukewarm).
  • Call the campaign assistant or manager of each candidate and see where they campaign. Try to go to the campaign site and see how they campaign.
  • Try to observe door-to-door campaign and visits by the candidate(s) and note how the voters and households respond to such visits (cool, warm??)
  • Take a look at the design of posters of all candidates--professional? Attractive? These posters are essential in political marketing and communication. Some posters are designed chaotically with all small words, some are designed attractively.
  • For parties' posters, note the differences between all the political parties. The DAB seems to use orange color, the DP tends to use green (but some independents also fool voters by using green, important to note here for all students). Note the party affiliations and groups affiliations of all the candidates. Write down the group names and if you do not know them, we will analyze them later after the election.
  • If possible, go to observe the election forums organized by the District Offices. Call them and get the date/time and then go there, and note the issues and arguments concerning the constituencies. You will learn a lot by observing forums.
  • Chat with the candidates after the forums, but tell them that you are not leaking out what they tell you to other candidates. The principle of confidentiality and also the tenet of neutrality are observed by us.
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Q16: Will I have the opportunity to talk to the candidates?
 
 
A16: Certainly. We will inform all candidates in your designated constituency about our research. We believe most candidates would welcome our researchers. As much as we would like to know their campaign strategies and personal feelings, they would to know the operation and findings of our project. In case you have a vote in your designated constituency, the candidates would be very very keen to solicit your personal support as well.
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Q17: Will I be seen as politically biased if I talk to the candidates?
 
 
A17: There is certainly such a danger. That's why we must do so in a professional and neutral way. Whenever possible, you should spend equal time among all candidates, chat with one candidate at one time, and then go to the other. Do not show your support to any candidate. We researchers are simply there to observe, investigate, and record, not to campaign for anyone. We are considering whether to provide T-shirts for our researchers. If we do, please wear them during your fieldwork, in order to emphasize your neutrality.
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Q18: How should I observe election day campaign activities?
 
 
A18: While Team members will be provided with a standard form to report their observations, the following guidelines compiled by Dr Sonny Lo should be useful:

  • Observe the number of posters of each candidate (rough number) that are posted on the shops--perhaps an indicator of the thrust of the campaign, but this cannot guarantee electoral victory.
  • Note roughly the number of people going to poll during the observation period, just a rough estimate which can match your exit poll results.
  • Note whether there are any student, university and political organizations conducting exit polls on the election day (note that there may be political groups doing these polls but they usually mobilize students to do it under the name of district groups or other organizations).
  • Note the ways in which candidates mobilize people to vote on the election day, say, through buses, or via phone calls to the voters, or campaign assistants wearing stickers or other signs to imply to voters to vote on the election day--a political reminder that is implicit.
  • Note the shops that put up the posters of candidates. Students can go insider the shops and chat with shopkeepers on whether the posters are put up for all candidates, for a particular candidate, and on the meanings (whether shopkeepers will really vote for those candidates, but whether just a gesture of allowing fair play to all the candidates).
  • Note the number of campaign assistants mobilized to help a particular candidate or certain candidates. Chat with the assistants in a very informal way so as to see whether they are paid to do the electioneering work, or whether they do it voluntary, or whether they do it voluntarily but with fringe benefits later on (say, holidays, etc and students need to chat with assistants in a very informal way to tap their views, some degree of sensitivity here).
  • Note the posters on the streets of the constituencies, and note whether some posters are destroyed and defaced, and what does this mean to the candidate(s) concerned. In hotly contested constituencies, posters are sometimes defaced and destroyed.
  • Note whether police car is stationed in any polling station, and how many cars, and where are these constituencies. This may indicate potentially problematic candidates running in that particular constituencies. Sensitive issue here.
  • Note whether campaign assistants make a "station" that register campaign assistants, who are required to sign their names and record the time they help the candidates. This may indicate some levels of hidden or explicit mobilization by some political parties or/and candidates. This list of campaign assistants will be useful for some organizations to pay back "fringe benefits" to them later after the election.
  • Number of cars and/or trucks mobilized by candidates to appeal to voters to vote. This may indicate how the candidate conducts his or her electioneering activities on the last two days.
  • Chat with the voters informally at a distance far from the polling station. Chat with them on how they are mobilized, what prompted them to vote, and their impression of this election as an ideological battle (democracy versus pro-government forces) or battle amongst candidates on constituency issues.
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Q19: What should I wear on the election day?
 
 
A19: We will provide T-shirts to all Team members for wearing on the election day, this is to make us look more professional and politically neutral. You can also wear it during pre-election observations if you like. All exit poll interviewers are required to display identification labels provided by the Registration and Electoral Office. We will apply them for you.
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Q20: Is there any other device I should bring along with me on the election day?
 
 
A20: All exit poll interviewers should bring a calculator and a mobile phone, which must be switched on until 2330 hour.
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Q21: Is there anything else I must bring along with me on the election day?
 
 
A21: All exit poll interviewers should bring a calculator and a mobile phone, to be switched on until 2330 hour.
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Q22: Do I have the right to interview voters outside polling stations?
 
 
A22: Yes, but prior permission must be sought from the Registration and Electoral Office at least 7 clear days before the election. We will take care of this procedure, which requires us to submit the exact name and personal identification number of all interviewers matched with individual polling stations.
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Q23: Where should I stand during exit poll?
 
 
A23: Interviewers are not allowed to go inside the polling stations, or stay in areas designated as "No Staying Zones". Interviews should be conducted at the exit(s) of polling stations. Only interviewers approved by the Registration and Electoral Office are allowed to conduct interviews in the "No Canvass Zones".
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Q24: How should I sample voters during exit poll?
 
 
A24: In order to guarantee the representativeness of the sample, all exit poll interviewers are required to follow very strict procedures in sampling voters at the exits. We will explain them to you during the briefing session.
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Q25: Can I tell people the result of my exit interviews?
 
 
A25: No. All data collected from the interviews must be kept strictly confidential. There must not be any leakage of information to any third party (e.g. the media, voters, candidates, etc.). All data would be collected regularly by your supervisor, in person or by electronic transmission. Such data would not be used on the election day in favour of, or against, any candidate or political group.
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