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Press Release on April 24, 2018

| Detailed Findings (Ratings of Best Corporations) |

| Detailed Findings (Rating of Top Ten Political Groups) |

Special Announcements

1. From July 2017, apart from sampling landline numbers to conduct opinion surveys, the Public Opinion Programme (POP) of The University of Hong Kong has also added mobile numbers to the sampling frame. After three months of testing, in October 2017, POP formalized the use of mixed samples as its standard for regular opinion surveys using a landline and mobile sample ratio of 4 to 1. Starting from April 2018, POP further increased the proportion of mobile sample, which the landline and mobile sample ratio became 2 to 1. The figures released today by POP have already incorporated landline and mobile samples.

2. To facilitate academic study and rational discussion, POP has already released for public examination some time ago via the "HKU POP SITE" (http://hkupop.pori.hk) the raw data of regular rating surveys of current CE Carrie Lam, former CEs CH Tung, Donald Tsang and CY Leung, along with related demographics of respondents. Please follow normal academic standards when using or citing such data.

Abstract

POP conducted a two-stage survey in April on the "Best Real Estate and Property Development Companies", and the results show that the most well-known real estate and property development company was Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited. Results of rating survey, however, show that Henderson Land Development Company Limited has the best CSR reputation in the sector, scoring 50.7 marks, followed by Cheung Kong Property Holdings and Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited, with 50.3 and 48.4 marks respectively. POP interviewed 525 and 503 Hong Kong people by means of random telephone surveys for the first stage naming survey and second stage rating survey respectively. The sampling errors of rating figures are no greater than +/-2.2 marks at 95% confidence level. The response rate of the rating survey is 57%.

As for the top 10 political groups, POP conducted a double stage survey in April by means of random telephone surveys conducted by real interviewers. Our latest survey of "Top 10 Political Groups" shows that the support ratings of all political groups remained below 50 marks. In terms of support ratings, compared to six months ago, out of the 9 political groups which were also rated last time, the support rating of LSD has gone up significantly while those of FTU and NPP have gone down significantly. Compared to the last survey, 8 political groups have managed to maintain their places in the "top 10" again, while Labour Party and ADPL enter the list and replace Youngspiration and Civic Passion. In terms of relative rankings, CP continues to top the list, Labour Party and ADPL enter the list to rank 2nd and 3rd, DP goes up one position to rank 4th, LP and NPP go down two positions each to rank 5th and 6th, FTU goes down five positions to rank 7th, DAB, LSD and PP go down two positions each to rank 8th to 10th. Besides, the latest support ratings of ADPL and FTU are at record lows since the survey series was first started in 1991. It should be noted, however, that our "Top 10 Political Groups" only includes groups which are best known to the public, ranked according to their support ratings. Other political groups may well have very high or low support ratings, but because they are relatively less well-known, they are not included in our final list. The maximum sampling error of the ratings of the top ten political groups is +/-2.6 at 95% confidence level. The response rate of the rating survey is 56%.

Points to note:

[1] The address of the "HKU POP SITE" is http://hkupop.pori.hk, journalists can check out the details of the survey there.

[2] Because of sampling errors in conducting the survey(s) and the rounding procedures in processing the data, the figures cannot be too precise, and the totals may not be completely accurate. Therefore, when quoting percentages of the survey(s), journalists should refrain from reporting decimal places, but when quoting the rating figures, one decimal place can be used.

[3] The data of this survey is collected by means of random telephone interviews conducted by real interviewers, not by any interactive voice system (IVS). If a research organization uses "computerized random telephone survey" to camouflage its IVS operation, it should be considered unprofessional.

Ratings of the Best Real Estate and Property Development Companies

[4] The sample size of the first stage naming survey is 525 successful interviews, not 525 x 56.0% response rate, while that of the second stage rating survey is 503 successful interviews, not 503 x 56.7% response rate. In the past, many media made this mistake.

[5] "95% confidence level" means that if we were to repeat a certain survey 100 times, using the same questions each time but with different random samples, we would expect 95 times getting a figure within the error margins specified. When quoting these figures, journalists can state "sampling errors of various ratings not more than +/-2.2 at 95% confidence level".

Ratings of the Top 10 Political Groups

[6] The sample size of the first stage naming survey is 1,003 successful interviews, not 1,003 x 57.9% response rate, while that of the second stage rating survey is another 1,001 successful interviews, not 1,001 x 56.4% response rate. In the past, many media made this mistake.

[7] "95% confidence level" means that if we were to repeat a certain survey 100 times, using the same questions each time but with different random samples, we would expect 95 times getting a figure within the error margins specified. When quoting these figures, journalists can state "sampling error of various ratings not more than +/-2.6 at 95% confidence level".

I. Ratings of the Best Real Estate and Property Development Companies

In 2008, HKUPOP initiated a tracking survey series on Corporate Social Responsibility, aiming to gauge the public image of different commercial organizations in order to encourage them to become ethical companies and select the best corporations. There are a total of six modules under this survey series, namely, 1) Public Transportation, 2) Telecommunication, 3) Banks and Financial Services, 4) Real Estate and Property Development, 5) Retail, and 6) Fast Food Restaurant. From January to December 2015, the survey was sponsored by Metro Broadcast Corporation Ltd and branded as "Metro CSR Index". Results were released every month in the website of Metro Radio.

At the beginning, these surveys were conducted once every three months, with two different modules each time. From July 2017, the frequency was changed to once every six months, with one module only for each survey. The surveys were conducted in two stages. In the first stage, respondents were requested to nominate, unprompted, at most 5 corporations that they can think of. POP would then select from this list of unprompted nominees the 3 most frequently cited names for the next stage survey. During the second stage survey, respondents would be asked to rate the CSR performance for each of the shortlisted corporations using a 0-100 scale. 0 indicates extremely poor performance, 100 indicates extremely good performance, and 50 means half-half.

Latest Figures

From July 2017, POP enhanced the previous weighting method that has been used for quite a few years. Apart from age, gender and education, economic activity group is now also taken into account when adjusting data. The latest figures released today have been rim-weighted according to figures collected in the 2016 By-census regarding the gender-age distribution of the Hong Kong population and the 2017 educational attainment (highest level attended) distribution and economic activity status distribution obtained from the Census and Statistics Department. The mobile sample has also been rim-weighted according to the basic Public Sentiment Index (PSI) figures collected in the landline sample. Herewith the contact information for the latest surveys of the best real estate and property development companies under the Best Corporations series:

[8] Errors are calculated at 95% confidence level using full sample size. "95% confidence level" means that if we were to repeat a certain survey 100 times, using the same questions each time but with different random samples, we would expect 95 times getting a figure within the error margins specified.

The research design of our "Best Corporation" rating survey has been explained in detail under "Survey Method" in our corresponding web page. The corporations being rated in our latest survey were those which obtained highest unprompted mentions in our first stage naming survey conducted in mid-April 2018. In the survey, respondents could name up to 5 local real estate and property development companies which they knew best. The top three corporations mentioned most frequently in the sector were: Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited, Cheung Kong Property Holdings and Henderson Land Development Company Limited. These corporations then entered into the second stage rating survey conducted in the same month, respondents were asked to rate each short-listed corporations using a 0-100 scale. 0 indicates extremely poor performance, 100 indicates extremely good performance, and 50 means half-half.

Recent ratings of the best real estate and property development companies are summarized as follows:

* "Overall response rate" was used before September 2017, thereafter, "effective response rate" was used.

[9] All error figures in the table are calculated at 95% confidence level. "95% confidence level" means that if we were to repeat a certain survey 100 times, using the same questions each time but with different random samples, we would expect 95 times getting a figure within the error margins specified. Media can state "sampling error of various ratings not more than +/-2.2 at 95% confidence level" when quoting the above figures. Numbers in square brackets { } indicates rankings. The error margin of previous survey can be found at the POP Site.

[10] Such changes have gone beyond the sampling errors at the 95% confidence level, meaning that they are statistically significant prima facie. However, whether numerical differences are statistically significant is not the same as whether they are practically useful or meaningful, and different weighting methods could have been applied in different surveys.

Our latest survey showed that Henderson Land Development Company Limited was considered as having the best CSR reputation among local real estate and property development companies, scored 50.7 marks, while Cheung Kong Property Holdings and Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited scored 50.3 and 48.4 marks respectively.

II. Ratings of the Top 10 Political Groups

Latest Figures

POP today releases the latest ratings of the top 10 political groups. From July 2017, POP enhanced the previous weighting method that has been used for quite a few years. Apart from age, gender and education, economic activity group is now also taken into account when adjusting data. The latest figures released today have been rim-weighted according to figures collected in the 2016 By-census regarding the gender-age distribution of the Hong Kong population and the 2017 educational attainment (highest level attended) distribution and economic activity status distribution obtained from the Census and Statistics Department. The mobile sample has also been rim-weighted according to the basic Public Sentiment Index (PSI) figures collected in the landline sample. Herewith the contact information for the latest survey:

[11] Errors are calculated at 95% confidence level using full sample size. "95% confidence level" means that if we were to repeat a certain survey 100 times, using the same questions each time but with different random samples, we would expect 95 times getting a figure within the error margins specified. Questions using only sub-samples would have bigger sampling error. Sampling errors of ratings are calculated according to the distribution of the scores collected.

The research design of our "Top ten political groups" has been explained in detail under "Survey Method" in our corresponding web page. The top political groups listed in our latest survey were all those who obtained highest unprompted mentions in our first stage naming survey conducted from April 2 to 4. In that survey, respondents could name, unaided, up to 10 political groups whom they knew best. Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), Democratic Party (DP), Civic Party (CP), Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) and New People's Party (NPP) were mentioned most frequently. Please refer to the relevant table in our website for the rest of the list. The 12 most frequently mentioned political groups then entered into the second stage rating survey. During that second stage survey conducted from April 16 to 19, respondents were asked to rate each political group in turn using a 0-100 scale. 0 indicates absolutely no support, 100 indicates absolute support, and 50 means half-half. After calculation, the bottom 2 political groups in terms of recognition rate were dropped, leaving behind the top 10. In case any group failed to reach the 50% benchmark recognition rate, it would also be dropped. It should, however, be noted that because political groups are not yet legal entities in Hong Kong, such definitions are rather vague, and so-called political groups are constantly evolving. As a result, strange names may appear in the list of groups mentioned by respondents in Stage One surveys. In order to avoid personal bias, our research team will eliminate groups which fall outside the popular definition only after the first stage of the survey. To facilitate readers follow our research process step by step, the POP Site has already displayed the results of all naming surveys conducted since July 1998. The latest ratings of the top 10 political groups, together with the previous ratings, are summarized below:

* "Overall response rate" was used before September 2017, thereafter, "effective response rate" was used.

[12] All error figures in the table are calculated at 95% confidence level. "95% confidence level" means that if we were to repeat a certain survey 100 times, using the same questions each time but with different random samples, we would expect 95 times getting a figure within the error margins specified. Media can state "sampling error of various ratings not more than +/-2.6 at 95% confidence level" when quoting the above figures. The error margin of previous survey can be found at the POP Site.

[13] Ratings with recognition rates not reaching top 10 in either stage of survey are not available. { } Number in square brackets indicates rankings.

[14] Such changes have gone beyond the sampling errors at the 95% confidence level, meaning that they are statistically significant prima facie. However, whether numerical differences are statistically significant is not the same as whether they are practically useful or meaningful, and different weighting methods could have been applied in different surveys.

Findings obtained from mid-April showed that, the most popular political group was Civic Party (CP) which attained 46.5 marks. Labour Party, Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL), Democratic Party (DP) and Liberal Party (LP) scored 44.9, 44.6, 44.4 and 44.2 marks respectively and ranked 2nd to 5th. The 6th to 10th places went to New People's Party (NPP), Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU), Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), League of Social Democrats (LSD) and People Power (PP), attaining 41.2, 41.1, 40.4, 40.2 and 36.3 marks respectively. The mean score obtained by the top 5 political groups was 44.9 marks. For this latest survey, Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA) and Youngspiration obtained a support rating of 36.3 and 32.0 marks respectively, but they were dropped due to their relatively low recognition rates. The overall ratings ranked according to results obtained over the past 4 surveys are tabulated as follows:

[15] "Average rating" is the average of all ratings obtained by political groups over the past 4 surveys, different weighting methods could have been applied in different surveys

[16] "Overall ranking" is first determined by their number of times on top 10, and then their average ratings. { } Number in square brackets indicates rankings.

The overall rankings in the past 4 surveys showed that eight political groups were listed for four times. CP achieved an average rating of 46.7 and ranked first. Meanwhile, the 2nd to 8th ranks fell to LP, DP, FTU, NPP, DAB, LSD and PP, with respective average ratings of 45.6, 44.8, 44.1, 42.9, 41.9, 37.6 and 34.8 marks. Labour Party was listed three times and ranked the 9th with an average rating of 45.3 marks. Civic Passion was listed twice and ranked the 10th with an average rating of 27.9 marks. Furthermore, NWS, ADPL and Youngspiration were listed once with average ratings of 54.3, 44.6 and 28.5 marks respectively, now ranked the 11th to 13th.

Opinion Daily

In January 2007, POP opened a feature page called "Opinion Daily" at the "POP Site", to record significant events and selected polling figures on a day-to-day basis, in order to let readers judge by themselves the reasons for the ups and downs of different opinion figures. In July 2007, POP collaborated with Wisers Information Limited whereby Wisers supplies to POP each day starting from July 24, a record of significant events of that day, according to the research method designed by POP. These daily entries would be uploaded to "Opinion Daily" as soon as they are verified by POP.

For the polling items covered in this press release, the previous survey of some items was conducted from 16 to 19 October, 2017 while this survey was conducted from 16 to 19 April, 2018. During this period, herewith the significant events selected from counting newspaper headlines and commentaries on a daily basis and covered by at least 25% of the local newspaper articles. Readers can make their own judgment if these significant events have any impacts to different polling figures.

Commentary

Note: The following commentary was written by Research Manager of POP, Frank Lee.

Our "Best Real Estate and Property Development Companies" survey conducted in April shows that the most well-known real estate and property development company was Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited. Results of rating survey, however, show that Henderson Land Development Company Limited has the best CSR reputation in the sector, scoring 50.7 marks, followed by Cheung Kong Property Holdings and Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited, with 50.3 and 48.4 marks respectively.

As for the "Top 10 Political Groups", the support ratings of all political groups remained below 50 marks. In terms of support ratings, compared to six months ago, out of the 9 political groups which were also rated last time, the support rating of LSD has gone up significantly while those of FTU and NPP have gone down significantly. Compared to the last survey, 8 political groups have managed to maintain their places in the "top 10" again, while Labour Party and ADPL enter the list and replace Youngspiration and Civic Passion. In terms of relative rankings, CP continues to top the list, Labour Party and ADPL enter the list to rank 2nd and 3rd, DP goes up one position to rank 4th, LP and NPP go down two positions each to rank 5th and 6th, FTU goes down five positions to rank 7th, DAB, LSD and PP go down two positions each to rank 8th to 10th. Besides, the latest support ratings of ADPL and FTU are at record lows since the survey series was first started in 1991. It should be noted, however, that our "Top 10 Political Groups" only includes groups which are best known to the public, ranked according to their support ratings. Other political groups may well have very high or low support ratings, but because they are relatively less well-known, they are not included in our final list. As to what events have affected the ups and downs of the popularity of these groups, readers can make their own judgment after reading through detailed records placed in our "Opinion Daily".

Future Release (Tentative)

May 2, 2018 (Wednesday) 12pm to 2pm: Popularity of CE and HKSAR Government, Public Sentiment Index

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Everything carried in this website does not represent the stand of the University of Hong Kong. Dr Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, is responsible for everything posted herewith, except for column articles and messages posted at the opinion platforms. Any responsibility, legal and otherwise, arising from any such item shall vest entirely with its author. The intellectual property of all information contained in this website, including questionnaire design and research reports, originally belongs to HKU POP unless specified otherwise. HKU POP opens their copyright to the world via this website, but would request all users to acknowledge their source properly.

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Last update :  26/6/2019