HKU POP releases the latest social indicators and the ratings of the best retail corporations Back
Press Release on May 23, 2018
| Detailed Findings (Social Indicators) | (Freedom Indicators) | (Rule of law indicators) |
| Detailed Findings (The Best Retail Corporations) |
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 interviewed 1,017 Hong Kong people between 4 and 9 May by means of a random telephone survey conducted by real interviewers. Our latest survey shows that compared to around half a year ago when figures were rather low, most social indicators have risen, reflecting that people appraised the Hong Kong society more positively now than early this year. To be specific, among the ratings of the 5 core social indicators, "prosperity", "freedom" and "rule of law" have rebounded significantly, while "stability" and "democracy" have dropped slightly. As for the non-core social indicators, among the 7 indicators, degrees of "corruption-free practices" and "fairness" have rebounded significantly. As for the 10 freedom sub-indicators, the freedoms of "procession and demonstration" and "press" have rebounded significantly. In the area of rule of law, ratings of both "fairness of the judicial system" and "impartiality of the courts" have rebounded significantly, while the latest support rating of Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma has also significantly rebounded by 4.5 marks to 69.6. The maximum sampling error of rating figures of various indicators is +/-0.22 mark at 95% confidence level; while that of Geoffrey Ma is no greater than +/-1.9 marks. The response rate of the survey is 60%.
As for the best retail corporations, POP conducted a two-stage survey in May and the results show that the most well-known retail corporation was ParknShop. Results of rating survey, however, show that 7-Eleven has the best CSR reputation in the sector, scoring 58.9 marks, followed by Wellcome and ParknShop, with 57.6 and 56.3 marks respectively. POP interviewed 507 and 511 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 61%.
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.
Social Indicators
[4] The sample size of this survey is 1,017 successful interviews, not 1,017 x 59.5% 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 error of various indicators not more than +/-0.22 while that of Geoffrey Ma not more than +/-1.9 at 95% confidence level".
Ratings of the Best Retail Corporations
[6] The sample size of the first stage naming survey is 507 successful interviews, not 507 x 57.1% response rate, while that of the second stage rating survey is 511 successful interviews, not 511 x 60.7% 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 errors of various ratings not more than +/-2.2 at 95% confidence level".
I. Social Indicators
Latest Figures
POP today releases the latest social indicators, include 5 core indicators, 7 non-core indicators, 10 freedom sub-indicators, 2 rule of law sub-indicators, and the rating of Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma Tao-li. 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:
|
Date of survey |
Effective sample size |
Effective response rate |
Maximum sampling error of ratings[6] |
|
4-9/5/2018 |
1,017 |
59.5% |
+/-1.9 |
[6] 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.
Herewith the latest figures of the 5 core social indicators:
|
Date of survey |
18-21/7/16 |
6-9/2/17 |
10-13/7/17 |
15-18/1/18 |
4-9/5/18 |
Latest change
|
|
Sample size[7] |
1,013 |
1,029 |
804 |
1,035 |
1,017 |
-- |
|
Response rate* |
73.6% |
70.5% |
72.0% |
63.6% |
59.5% |
-- |
|
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding & error[8] |
-- |
|
Degree of prosperity |
6.46 |
6.63[9] |
7.03[9] |
6.93 |
7.21+/-0.11 |
+0.28[9] |
|
Degree of freedom |
6.62[9] |
6.90[9] |
7.07[9] |
6.72[9] |
7.11+/-0.13 |
+0.39[9] |
|
Compliance with the rule of law |
6.19[9] |
6.63[9] |
7.08[9] |
6.29[9] |
6.74+/-0.13 |
+0.45[9] |
|
Degree of stability |
6.31[9] |
6.41 |
6.83[9] |
6.65[9] |
6.59+/-0.13 |
-0.06 |
|
Degree of democracy |
5.86 |
6.02 |
6.39[9] |
5.74[9] |
5.65+/-0.15 |
-0.09 |
* "Overall response rate" was used before September 2017, thereafter, "effective response rate" was used.
[7] These questions only use sub-samples of the tracking surveys concerned in the previous surveys. But full sample was used in this survey.
[8] 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 +/-0.15 at 95% confidence level" when quoting the above figures.
[9] 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.
Herewith the latest figures of the 7 non-core social indicators:
|
Date of survey |
18-21/7/16 |
6-9/2/17 |
10-13/7/17 |
15-18/1/18 |
4-9/5/18 |
Latest change |
|
Sample size[10] |
1,013 |
1,029 |
804 |
1,035 |
1,017 |
-- |
|
Response rate* |
73.6% |
70.5% |
72.0% |
63.6% |
59.5% |
-- |
|
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding & error[11] |
-- |
|
Degree of public order |
7.09[12] |
7.16 |
7.50[12] |
7.52 |
7.47+/-0.11 |
-0.05 |
|
Degree of civilization |
6.71 |
6.83 |
7.24[12] |
6.83[12] |
6.84+/-0.12 |
+0.01 |
|
Degree of efficiency |
6.32[12] |
6.58[12] |
6.86[12] |
6.72 |
6.66+/-0.13 |
-0.06 |
|
Degree of corruption-free practices |
5.95[12] |
6.17[12] |
6.78[12] |
6.30[12] |
6.59+/-0.14 |
+0.29[12] |
|
Degree of social welfare sufficiency |
6.24 |
6.21 |
6.61[12] |
6.12[12] |
6.24+/-0.14 |
+0.12 |
|
Degree of equality |
5.66[12] |
6.09[12] |
6.39[12] |
5.87[12] |
5.82+/-0.13 |
-0.05 |
|
Degree of fairness |
5.58 |
5.66 |
6.02[12] |
5.47[12] |
5.77+/-0.14 |
+0.30[12] |
* "Overall response rate" was used before September 2017, thereafter, "effective response rate" was used.
[10] These questions only use sub-samples of the tracking surveys concerned in the previous surveys. But full sample was used in this survey.
[11] 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 +/-0.14 at 95% confidence level" when quoting the above figures.
[12] 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.
Herewith the latest figures of the 10 freedom sub-indicators:
|
Date of survey |
18-21/7/16 |
6-9/2/17 |
10-13/7/17 |
15-18/1/18 |
4-9/5/18 |
Latest change |
|
Sample size[13] |
1,013 |
1,029 |
804 |
1,035 |
1,017 |
-- |
|
Response rate* |
73.6% |
70.5% |
72.0% |
63.6% |
59.5% |
-- |
|
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding & error[13] |
-- |
|
Degree of freedom
|
6.62[15] |
6.90[15] |
7.07[15] |
6.72[15] |
7.11+/-0.13 |
+0.39[15] |
|
Freedom of religious belief |
8.42 |
8.49 |
8.66[15] |
8.55 |
8.51+/-0.14 |
-0.04 |
|
Freedom to enter or leave
|
8.02 |
7.85 |
8.36[15] |
8.00[15] |
8.14+/-0.17 |
+0.14 |
|
Freedom to engage in
|
6.82 |
6.99 |
7.29[15] |
6.99[15] |
7.10+/-0.19 |
+0.11 |
|
Freedom to engage in
|
7.09 |
6.91 |
7.52[15] |
6.96[15] |
7.06+/-0.21 |
+0.10 |
|
Freedom of speech |
6.59[15] |
6.59 |
7.19[15] |
6.65[15] |
6.80+/-0.19 |
+0.15 |
|
Freedom of procession and demonstration |
6.62 |
6.51 |
6.68[15] |
6.54 |
6.79+/-0.20 |
+0.25[15] |
|
Freedom of press |
6.33 |
6.37 |
6.69[15] |
6.21[15] |
6.43+/-0.21 |
+0.22[15] |
|
Freedom of association |
6.37 |
6.46 |
6.75[15] |
6.47[15] |
6.42+/-0.20 |
-0.05 |
|
Freedom of publication |
5.93[15] |
6.22[15] |
6.81[15] |
6.24[15] |
6.40+/-0.19 |
+0.16 |
|
Freedom to strike |
6.76 |
6.48[15] |
6.76[15] |
6.31[15] |
6.25+/-0.22 |
-0.06 |
* "Overall response rate" was used before September 2017, thereafter, "effective response rate" was used.
[13] Apart from the freedom indicator, these questions only use sub-samples of the tracking surveys concerned. The sub-sample sizes of this survey range from 540 to 580, and the increased sampling errors have already been reflected in the figures tabulated.
[14] 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 +/-0.22 at 95% confidence level" when quoting the above figures.
[15] 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.
Herewith the latest figures of the 2 rule of law sub-indicators and the rating of the Chief Justice:
|
Date of survey |
18-21/7/16 |
6-9/2/17 |
10-13/7/17 |
15-18/1/18 |
4-9/5/18 |
Latest change |
|
Sample size[16] |
1,013 |
1,029 |
804 |
1,035 |
1,017 |
-- |
|
Response rate* |
73.6% |
70.5% |
72.0% |
63.6% |
59.5% |
-- |
|
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding & error[17] |
-- |
|
Compliance with the rule of law (repeated listing) |
6.19[18] |
6.63[18] |
7.08[18] |
6.29[18] |
6.74+/-0.13 |
+0.45[18] |
|
Impartiality of the courts |
6.67 |
6.73 |
6.93[18] |
6.54[18] |
6.84+/-0.18 |
+0.30[18] |
|
Fairness of the judicial system |
6.16[18] |
6.35[18] |
6.87[18] |
6.05[18] |
6.35+/-0.20 |
+0.30[18] |
|
Support rating of Geoffrey Ma |
64.6 |
66.8[18] |
68.2 |
65.1[18] |
69.6+/-1.9 |
+4.5[18] |
* "Overall response rate" was used before September 2017, thereafter, "effective response rate" was used.
[16] Apart from the rule of law indicator, these questions only use sub-samples of the tracking surveys concerned. The sub-sample sizes of this survey range from 516 to 555, and the increased sampling errors have already been reflected in the figures tabulated.
[17] 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 +/-0.20 at 95% confidence level" when quoting the above figures, and that "sampling error is not more than +/-1.9 at 95% confidence level" when citing Geoffrey Ma's rating.
[18] 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.
Regarding the core social indicators, latest results showed that, on a scale of 0-10, Hong Kong's degree of "prosperity" scored the highest rating with 7.21 marks, followed by "freedom" and "compliance with rule of law", with 7.11 and 6.74 marks respectively, and then "stability" and "democracy", with 6.59 and 5.65 marks respectively.
As for the non-core social indicators, "public order" has the highest score of 7.47 marks, followed by "civilization", "efficiency", "corruption-free practices", "social welfare sufficiency", "equality" and "fairness", with scores of 6.84, 6.66, 6.59, 6.24, 5.82 and 5.77 marks correspondingly.
As for the freedom sub-indicators, the freedom of "religious belief" scored the highest rating with 8.51 marks. Freedom of "entering or leaving Hong Kong" came second with 8.14 marks. Freedoms of "artistic and literary creation", "academic research", "speech", "procession and demonstration", "press", "association", "publication" and "freedom to strike" formed the next tier, with respective scores of 7.10, 7.06, 6.80, 6.79, 6.43, 6.42, 6.40 and 6.25 marks.
Finally, for the two ratings of law sub-indicators, the impartiality of the courts scored 6.84 marks, while the rating of the fairness of the judicial system was 6.35 marks. Meanwhile, the latest popularity rating of Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma Tao-li, a representative figure of the judicial system, was 69.6 marks, on a scale of 0-100.
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 15 to 18 January, 2018 while this survey was conducted from 4 to 9 May, 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.
|
7/5/18 |
The Legislative Council's Bills Committee approves the Express Rail Link co-location bill. |
|
5/5/18 |
Ted Hui is arrested for snatching an Executive Officer's phone. |
|
26/4/18 |
The Task Force on Land Supply commences public consultation. |
|
25/4/18 |
Democratic Party legislator Ted Hui Chi-fung snatches the phone of an Executive Officer in the Legislative Council. |
|
21/4/18 |
Qiao Xiaoyang says Hong Kong independence is unconstitutional. |
|
15/4/18 |
Hong Kong holds the National Security Education Day for the first time. |
|
13/4/18 |
Hong Kong Monetary Authority purchases Hong Kong dollar. |
|
31/3/18 |
Media reports on the remarks made by Benny Tai Yiu-ting, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong at a Taiwan seminar that Hong Kong could consider becoming an independent state. |
|
29/3/18 |
The Government has an initial idea on how to remove the MPF offsetting mechanism. |
|
24/3/18 |
The Commission on Poverty Summit is held with a theme of social housing. |
|
23/3/18 |
Government announces that eligible citizens can collect $4,000 through the Caring and Sharing Scheme. |
|
12/3/18 |
The pro-democracy camp and the pro-establishment camp win two seats each in the Legislative Council by-election. |
|
28/2/18 |
Financial Secretary Paul Chan delivers the first Budget of the current-term government. |
|
27/1/18 |
The Returning Officer decides that the nomination of Agnes Chow for the Legislative Council By-election is invalid. |
|
17/1/18 |
Joshua Wong and Raphael Wong are jailed by the High Court over the Mongkok protest site clearance case. |
II. Ratings of the Best Retail Corporations
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 retail corporations under the Best Corporations series:
|
Date of survey |
Effective sample size |
Effective response rate |
Maximum sampling error[19] |
|
4-7/5/2018 (Naming survey) |
507 |
57.1% |
+/-4% |
|
8-9/5/2018 (Rating survey) |
511 |
60.7% |
+/-2.2 |
[19] 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 early May 2018. In the survey, respondents could name up to 5 local retail corporations which they knew best. The top three corporations mentioned most frequently in the sector were: ParknShop, Wellcome and 7-Eleven. 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 retail corporations are summarized as follows:
|
Date of survey |
21-22/3/17 |
7-8/6/17 |
8-9/11/17 |
8-9/5/18 |
Latest change |
|
|
Sample size |
512 |
505 |
504 |
511 |
-- |
|
|
Response rate* |
72.6% |
68.7% |
56.1% |
60.7 % |
-- |
|
|
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding & error [20] |
Recognition rate |
-- |
|
7-Eleven |
56.3{3} |
54.4{1}[21] |
57.0{1}[21] |
58.9+/-2.2{1} |
95.0% |
+1.9 |
|
Wellcome |
58.0{1}[21] |
53.1{2}[21] |
56.0{2}[21] |
57.6+/-1.9{2} |
95.4% |
+1.6 |
|
ParknShop |
56.8{2}[21] |
51.8{3}[21] |
55.1{3}[21] |
56.3+/-1.8{3} |
97.3% |
+1.2 |
* "Overall response rate" was used before September 2017, thereafter, "effective response rate" was used.
[20] 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.
[21] 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 7-Eleven was considered as having the best CSR reputation among local retail corporations, scored 58.9 marks, while Wellcome and ParknShop scored 57.6 and 56.3 marks respectively.
Commentary
Note: The following commentary was written by Senior Data Analyst of POP, Edward Tai.
Our latest survey shows that compared to around half a year ago when figures were rather low, most social indicators have risen, reflecting that people appraised the Hong Kong society more positively now than early this year. To be specific, among the ratings of the 5 core social indicators, "prosperity", "freedom" and "rule of law" have rebounded significantly, while "stability" and "democracy" have dropped slightly. As for the non-core social indicators, among the 7 indicators, degrees of "corruption-free practices" and "fairness" have rebounded significantly. As for the 10 freedom sub-indicators, the freedoms of "procession and demonstration" and "press" have rebounded significantly. In the area of rule of law, ratings of both "fairness of the judicial system" and "impartiality of the courts" have rebounded significantly, while the latest support rating of Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma has also significantly rebounded by 4.5 marks to 69.6. As for the reasons affecting the ups and downs of various indicators, we leave it for our readers to make their own judgement after reading detailed records shown in our "Opinion Daily" feature page.
As for the best retail corporations, our survey conducted in May shows that the most well-known retail corporation was ParknShop. Results of rating survey, however, show that 7-Eleven has the best CSR reputation in the sector, scoring 58.9 marks, followed by Wellcome and ParknShop, with 57.6 and 56.3 marks respectively.
Future Release (Tentative)
