New Year Rally 2004Back

	Opinions from an online survey of some participants of the New Year Rally 2004 are carried by this platform. Because online surveys are not representative, their results can only serve as rough references.

	Opinion Statistics of Online Survey (conducted on 1-16/1/2004; released on 8/2/2005; on-line from 8/2/2005) (Chinese only) The tables in this section show the statistics of opinions from the online survey submitted by the participants of the New Year Rally 2004 who have passed our identity check. In the Rally, 9,500 leaflets with password were distributed to invite the participants to complete the online survey in a specific website. After 15 days, we have received 676 questionnaires with valid passwords. Among them, 127 respondents have submitted opinions in the open space at the end of the questionnaires.

	Open-ended Opinions of Online Survey (conducted on 1-16/1/2004; released on 8/2/2005; on-line from 8/2/2005) This part lists out the open-ended opinions submitted by the respondents of the online survey. These submissions are compiled from questionnaires which have passed our identity check, and judged by us to contain no foul language or personal attack and are relevant to the topic. These opinions are unedited. Any responsibility, legal or otherwise, generated from any submission posted in this platform shall vest entirely with its author. The copyright is completely open. All submissions which have passed our identity check but not fulfilled the above requirements will be kept until 18 February for media investigation. If a media decides to publicize the opinions, the responsibility shall vest entirely with the media concerned.

	Full text of on-line questionnaire (conducted on 1-16/1/2004) Our usual practice is to publish our research method and questionnaire design in complete detail. We encourage members of the public to form their own views of our work, after reading through all relevant material. We use similar questionnaires for all surveys of mass rally participants.

	Relevant column article "Head Counting in Mass Gatherings and Rallies Article Series" Robert Ting-Yiu Chung (Director of Public Opinion Programme, the University of Hong Kong) (16/7/2004) The article was published by MingPao in two parts, on July 15 and 16, 2004, with respective titles of "500,000 People in 2003's July 1 Rally as a Reliable Figure; 50,000 People at most in This Year's January 1 Rally" and "180,000 to 210,000 People in This Year's July 1 Rally". The article mainly discussed the author's head counting methods and limitations faced in last year's July 1 rally, this year's January 1 rally, June Fourth Candlelight Vigil and July 1 rally.