政府民望：常見問題Popularity of the Government: FAQsBack

答：由於調查的抽樣誤差有數個百分比之多，定點位後的小數完全沒有意義，而且會誤導讀者以為數字非常精確和具代表性。由於網上數字屬於參考性質，所以比較精確；新聞公報的數字多被傳媒直接轉載，所以比較重視精確的概念。(初版：2006年1月3日新聞公報之附加資料)
A：It's a matter of accuracy. Since there are already sampling errors of a few percentage points, giving decimal places are not meaningful. It may also mislead readers into thinking that the findings are very representative and accurate up to a fraction of a percentage point. Since online tables are meant for more serious references, we have left the decimal places unscratched. Press releases are usually quoted directly by the media, so we prefer to emphasize the concept of accuracy.  (First release: Supplementary section of our press release of 3 January 2006)

答：巿民對政府的信任程度，是一個比較深層的態度測試。巿民對政府表現的滿意程度，可以隨著個別政策而變得飄忽。雖然兩者都是有用的指標，但對於比較遙遠但又關係密切的政府，例如是香港人心目中的中央政府和台灣政府，「信任程度」應該是一個更有意義的測試。(初版：2006年1月3日新聞公報之附加資料)
A：People's trust in a government is often part of an attitude with deep roots, whereas their appraisal of a government's performance may be swayed by specific policies. Both are useful indicators, but for governments which are relatively more remote but nevertheless important, like the Central Government and the Taiwan Government in the heart of Hong Kong people, "trust in government" is probably a more useful measurement. (First release: Supplementary section of our press release of 3 January 2006)

答：香港回歸前後，一般專家和巿民都非常關注香港在民主、自由、繁榮、安定四個領域的長遠發展。民研計劃於是開展了多個長期調查系列，當中包括社會指標調查和特區政府表現調查。前者包括12項指標，當中又以「民主」、「自由」、「繁榮」、「安定」為核心。在特區政府表現方面，民研計劃則以「推行民主步伐」、「維護人權自由」、「維持經濟繁榮」和「改善民生」四個項目作為特區政府內務工作的主要範疇，互相呼應，再加「處理與中央政府關係」一項作為特區政府的主要外務工作，成為五項指標。(初版：2006年3月23日新聞公報之附加資料)
A：Around the handover of Hong Kong, many experts and citizens became highly concerned with the long-term development of Hong Kong in four aspects, namely democracy, freedom, prosperity and stability. HKUPOP therefore started a number of tracking survey series, including social indicator surveys and surveys on the performance of the SAR government. The former series comprises 12 indicators, with "democracy", "freedom", "prosperity" and "stability" being the core indicators. These are matched by four aspects of SAR government's performance, namely, "developing democracy", "protecting human rights and freedom", "maintaining economic prosperity", and "improving people's livelihood", while the fifth aspect of "handling of its relation with the Central Government" is also added to measure the performance of the government in external affairs. (First release: Supplementary section of our press release of 23 March 2006)

答：未必，除非問題的答案只有「正」與「反」兩個選項。如果採用五等量尺或是其他有中間數的平衡量尺，部分正面或負面意見可能是變得中性，而非轉向極端，分析時要格外小心。(初版：2006年6月20日新聞公報之附加資料)
A：Not necessarily, unless there is only one positive and one negative answer. If we are using a five-point scale, or any balanced scale with a mid-point, some of the positive or negative answers might have just turned neutral, instead of taking sides. We therefore need to be very careful when reading these findings. (First release: Supplementary section of our press release of 20 June 2006)

答：本欄在2006年7月25日、8月8日、8月29日和9月12日的公報中討論了以上五個民望基準，不過都是以政府官員的民望為基礎，和以民意支持率化為選票比率作為推理。政府民望調查方面，如果採用的提問為「假設明天進行全民投票，表決現任政府應否繼續執政，你會如何投票？」則或可產生同樣功效。不過，民研計劃現時採用的提問方法是「你對政府整體表現是否滿意」，而答案亦分五等。這種提問比較容易掌握巿民的一般感覺，但就難於推論政府應否倒台，上述五項民望基準亦不易應用。不過，我們可以大膽假設，如果特區首長的民望長期處於「失敗」、「拙劣」或「不彰」的狀態，巿民更換政府的訴求，就會不言而喻。(初版：2006年9月26日新聞公報之附加資料)
A：We discussed the concepts of these five benchmarks in our releases of July 25, August 8 and 29, and September 12, 2006, but they are related to the popularity figures of government officials, and they are all derived from our logic of converting support rate figures into actual votes. In mapping the popularity of a government, if we use questions like "Assuming there is a referendum tomorrow to decide whether the government should remain in power, how would you vote?", we may well come up with similar benchmarks. However, the wordings used by HKUPOP in gauging government popularity is "Are you satisfied with the overall performance of the government?" and we use a 5-point scale to register the answers. We manage to grasp people's feeling better using this question, but it makes it difficult to project whether a government should be removed. The five benchmarks we discussed become inapplicable. Nevertheless, we may boldly assume that if the popularity of our supreme leader remains to be "depressing", "disastrous" or "inconspicuous" for a long time, it will go unspoken that people wants the government to be removed. (First release: Supplementary section of our press release of 26 September 2006)