HKU POP releases survey on Hong Kong people's ethnic identity and ratings of the best fast food restaurantsBack
Press Release on June 19, 2018
| Detailed Findings (People's Ethnic Identity) |
| Detailed Findings (Ratings of the Best Fast Food Restaurants) |
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 1,001 Hong Kong people between 4 and 7 June by means of a random telephone survey conducted by real interviewers. According to our latest survey, on a scale of 0-10 measuring the absolute strength of identity, the identity rating of "Hongkongers" stands at 8.54, that of "Asians" stands at 8.16, that of "members of the Chinese race" 7.10, that of "Chinese" 6.89, that of "global citizens" 6.61, and "citizens of PRC" 5.85. When importance ratings are incorporated to generate "identity indices" between 0 and 100 (the higher the index, the stronger the positive feeling), Hong Kong people's feeling is still the strongest as "Hongkongers" at 83.0 marks, followed by "Asians" 74.1, then "members of the Chinese race" 68.0, "Chinese" 66.6, "global citizens" 63.5, and finally "citizens of the PRC" 56.3. Among the six indices, that of "Hongkongers" increased significantly compared to the last survey, and also registered record high since the development of such indices in 2008, that of "Asians" also increased to a new high since 2008, while that of "global citizens" dropped to a new low since 2008. If we follow the usual study method of using a dichotomy of "Hongkonger" versus "Chinese" to measure Hong Kong people's ethnic identity, the proportion of people identifying themselves as "Hongkongers" outnumbers that of "Chinese" both in their narrow and broad senses, by 23 and 37 percentage points respectively. All in all, Hong Kong people continue to feel the strongest as "Hongkongers", followed by a number of cultural identities. The feeling of being "citizens of the PRC" is the weakest among all identities tested. The maximum sampling error of percentages is +/-4 percentage points at 95% confidence level, while the sampling error of rating figures needs another calculation. The response rate of the survey is 56%.
As for the best fast food restaurants, POP conducted a two-stage survey in June and the results show that the most well-known fast food restaurant was Cafe de Coral. Results of rating survey, however, show that McDonald's has the best CSR reputation in the sector, scoring 58.2 marks, followed by Cafe de Coral and Fairwood, with 57.3 and 57.1 marks respectively. POP interviewed 500 and 502 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 +/-1.8 marks 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.
Hong Kong People's Ethnic Identity
[4] The sample size is 1,001 successful interviews, not 1,001 x 56.3% response rates. In the past, many media made this mistake.
[5] The maximum sampling error of all percentages is +/-4 percentage points at 95% confidence level, while the sampling error of rating figure needs another calculation. "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 +/-0.28, sampling error of identity indices not more than +/-2.7, and sampling error of percentages not more than +/-4% at 95% confidence level".
[6] Starting from 18 June 2013, in light of their popular usage, the following translations are used in reports and releases: 香港人 = Hongkonger, 中國的香港人 = Hongkonger in China, 中國人 = Chinese, 香港的中國人 = Chinese in Hong Kong.
Ratings of the Best Fast Food Restaurants
[7] The sample size of the first stage naming survey is 500 successful interviews, not 500 x 52.2% response rate, while that of the second stage rating survey is 502 successful interviews, not 502 x 56.0% response rate. In the past, many media made this mistake.
[8] "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 +/-1.8 at 95% confidence level".
I. Hong Kong People's Ethnic Identity
Latest Figures
POP today releases the latest survey on people's ethnic identity. 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 percentages[9] |
Maximum sampling error of identity indices [9] |
|
4-7/6/2018 |
1,001 |
56.3% |
+/-3% |
+/-2.7 |
[9] 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 sample error. Sampling errors of ratings and identity indices are calculated according to the distribution of the scores collected.
Recent figures on Hong Kong people's ratings on separate identities are tabulated as follows:
|
Date of survey |
12-15/12/16 |
13-15/6/17 |
4-6/12/17 |
4-7/6/18 |
Latest change |
||||||
|
Sample base[10] |
613-706 |
633-725 |
645-727 |
564-682 |
-- |
||||||
|
Response rate* |
71.6% |
69.8% |
61.0% |
56.3% |
-- |
||||||
|
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding and error[11] |
-- |
||||||
|
Strength rating of being "Hongkongers" |
Identity index of being "Hong-
|
8.09 |
78.8[13] |
7.65[13] |
73.8[13] |
8.27[13] |
78.9[13] |
8.54
|
83.0
|
+0.27[13] |
+4.1[13] |
|
Importance rating of being "Hongkongers" |
7.87[13] |
7.49[13] |
7.89[13] |
8.30
|
+0.41[13] |
||||||
|
Strength rating of being "Asians" |
Identity index of being "Asians"[12] |
7.81[13] |
73.0[13] |
7.85 |
70.7[13] |
7.88 |
72.8[13] |
8.16
|
74.1
|
+0.28[13] |
+1.3 |
|
Importance rating of being "Asians" |
7.04[13] |
6.70[13] |
7.01[13] |
6.99
|
-0.02 |
||||||
|
Strength rating of being "Members of the Chinese race" |
Identity index of being "Members of the Chinese race" [12] |
7.55[13] |
72.8[13] |
6.74[13] |
64.4[13] |
7.08[13] |
67.3[13] |
7.10
|
68.0
|
+0.02 |
+0.7 |
|
Importance rating of being "Members of the Chinese race" |
7.18[13] |
6.40[13] |
6.62 |
6.68
|
+0.06 |
||||||
|
Strength rating of being "Chinese" |
Identity index of being "Chinese"[12] |
6.88[13] |
66.6[13] |
6.53[13] |
62.5[13] |
6.89[13] |
66.0[13] |
6.89
|
66.6
|
-- |
+0.6 |
|
Importance rating of being "Chinese" |
6.63[13] |
6.30[13] |
6.64[13] |
6.67
|
+0.03 |
||||||
|
Strength rating of being "global citizens" |
Identity index of being "global citizens" [12] |
6.76 |
64.5 |
6.88 |
66.4[13] |
7.12[13] |
66.9 |
6.61
|
63.5
|
-0.51[13] |
-3.4[13] |
|
Importance rating of being "global citizens" |
6.30 |
6.60[13] |
6.55 |
6.30
|
-0.25 |
||||||
|
Strength rating of being "citizens of PRC" |
Identity index of being "citizens of PRC" [12] |
6.25[13] |
60.7[13] |
5.84[13] |
54.8[13] |
6.00 |
58.0[13] |
5.85
|
56.3
|
-0.15 |
-1.7 |
|
Importance rating of being "citizens of PRC" |
6.09[13] |
5.49[13] |
5.83[13] |
5.68
|
-0.15 |
||||||
* "Overall response rate" was used before September 2017, thereafter, "effective response rate" was used.
[10] The sub-sample size of the series of questions is controlled at over 500 cases. The sub-sample sizes of this survey range from 564 to 682, and the increased sampling errors have already been reflected in the figures tabulated.
[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 ratings not more than +/-0.28 and sampling error of identity indices not more than +/-2.7 at 95% confidence level" when quoting the above figures. The error margin of previous survey can be found at the POP Site.
[12] "Identity index" is calculated for each identity of a respondent by taking the geometric mean of the strength and importance ratings of a certain identity, multiply by 10. If either the strength or importance rating of a respondent is missing, it is substituted by the sample mean of that identity.
[13] 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.
The above figures were collected from independent rating questions, but not involving the dichotomy issue of "Hongkongers" and "Chinese". Latest findings showed that the identity ratings for "Hongkongers", "Asians" and "members of the Chinese race" were 8.54, 8.16 and 7.10 marks respectively. Using the same rating method, the strength of people's identity as "Chinese", "global citizens" and "citizens of PRC" were 6.89, 6.61 and 5.85 marks respectively. As for the importance ratings, "Hongkongers", "Asians" and "members of the Chinese race" scored 8.30, 6.99 and 6.68 marks respectively, while those for "Chinese", "global citizens" and "citizens of PRC" were 6.67, 6.30 and 5.68 marks respectively.
Taking the geometric mean of the strength and importance ratings of each respondent and then multiply it by 10, we have an "identity index" for the respondent for a certain identity between 0 and 100, with 0 meaning no feeling, 100 meaning extremely strong feeling, and 50 meaning half and half. Using these identity indices, the rank order of Hong Kong people's six identities was "Hongkongers", "Asians", "members of the Chinese race", "Chinese", "global citizens" and "citizens of PRC". Their scores were 83.0, 74.1, 68.0, 66.6, 63.5 and 56.3 marks respectively.
As for the results from the survey mode used for long on Hong Kong people's sense of ethnic identity, recent figures are tabulated as follows:
|
Date of survey |
12-15/12/16 |
13-15/6/17 |
4-6/12/17 |
4-7/6/18 |
Latest change |
|
Sample base[14] |
728 |
661 |
633 |
614 |
-- |
|
Response rate* |
71.6% |
69.8% |
61.0% |
56.3% |
-- |
|
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding and error [15] |
-- |
|
Identified themselves as "Hongkongers" |
35%[17] |
37% |
39% |
41+/-4% |
+2% |
|
Identified themselves as "Chinese" |
16% |
21%[17] |
14%[17] |
18+/-3% |
+4%[17] |
|
Identified themselves with a mixed identity of "Hongkongers" plus "Chinese"[16] |
47%[17] |
40%[17] |
45%[17] |
39+/-4% |
-6%[17] |
|
Identified themselves as "Hongkongers" in broad sense |
64% |
63% |
68%[17] |
67+/-4% |
-1% |
|
Identified themselves as "Chinese"
|
34% |
35% |
31% |
30+/-4% |
-1% |
* "Overall response rate" was used before September 2017, thereafter, "effective response rate" was used.
[14] This question only uses sub-samples of the tracking surveys concerned. The sub-sample size of this survey is 614, and the increased sampling errors have already been reflected in the figures tabulated.
[15] 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 percentages not more than +/-4% at 95% confidence level" when quoting the above figures. The error margin of previous survey can be found at the POP Site.
[16] This means the percentage of "Hongkongers in China" plus "Chinese in Hong Kong".
[17] 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.
When asked to make a choice among 4 given identities, namely, "Hongkongers", "Hongkongers in China", "Chinese" and "Chinese in Hong Kong", 41% of the respondents identified themselves as "Hongkongers", 18% as "Chinese", 27% as "Hongkongers in China", while 12% identified themselves as "Chinese in Hong Kong". In other words, 67% of the respondents identified themselves as "Hongkongers" in the broader sense (i.e. either as "Hongkongers" or "Hongkongers in China"), whereas 30% identified themselves as "Chinese" in the broader sense (i.e. either as "Chinese" or "Chinese in Hong Kong"), 39% chose a mixed identity of "Hongkongers plus Chinese" (i.e. either as "Hongkongers in China" or "Chinese in Hong Kong").
Because the concepts of "Hongkongers", "Hongkongers in China", "Chinese" and "Chinese in Hong Kong" may overlap with each other, and making a one-in-four choice may not reflect the actual strengths of one's ethnic identities, POP has right from the beginning conducted parallel tests on the strengths of people's separate identities as "Hongkongers" and "Chinese" using a scale of 0-10, to study ethnic identity in different levels. In June 2007, POP has already expanded its study to include four new identities for strength rating, namely, "citizens of PRC", "members of the Chinese race", "Asians" and "global citizens". In December 2008, the study was further expanded by including separate importance ratings for different identities, and the compilation of a separate index for each identity using geometric means. Though they may not be perfect, the complex studies adopted by POP were already very comprehensive.
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 some of the polling items covered in this press release, the previous survey of some items was conducted from December 4 to 6, 2017 while this survey was conducted from June 4 to 7, 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.
|
6/6/18 |
Dishonest practices were exposed in the coupling of steel bars in Hung Hom Station at the Shatin to Central Link. |
|
3/6/18 |
The third round of trade talks between China and the United States ends. |
|
31/5/18 |
Ten people are sentenced for rioting in Mong Kok during the Lunar New Year in 2016. |
|
18/5/18 |
Edward Leung Tin-kei is found guilty of rioting and acquitted of inciting others to riot. |
|
14/5/18 |
President Xi Jinping supports Hong Kong becoming an international center for innovative science and technology. |
|
12/5/18 |
Wenchuan earthquake passes through 10 years and an official memorial ceremony is held by the Sichuan government. |
|
11/5/18 |
First meeting of the Hong Kong-Sichuan Co-operation Conference is held in Chengdu. |
|
7/5/18 |
The Legislative Council's Bills Committee approves the Express Rail Link co-location bill. |
|
28/4/18 |
The Central Government's Liaison Office holds "Public Open Day" for the first time. |
|
23/4/18 |
Director of the Liaison Office Wang Zhimin attends a LegCo luncheon and delivers a speech. |
|
21/4/18 |
Qiao Xiaoyang says Hong Kong independence is unconstitutional. |
|
17/4/18 |
The US imposes a seven-year export ban on ZTE. |
|
15/4/18 |
Hong Kong holds the National Security Education Day for the first time. |
|
10/4/18 |
President Xi Jinping announces four measures to further open China's economy. |
|
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. |
II. Ratings of the Best Fast Food Restaurants
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 fast food restaurants under the Best Corporations series:
|
Date of survey |
Effective sample size |
Effective response rate |
Maximum sampling error[18] |
|
4-5/6/2018 (Naming survey) |
500 |
52.2% |
+/-4% |
|
6-7/6/2018 (Rating survey) |
502 |
56.0% |
+/-1.8 |
[18] 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 June 2018. In the survey, respondents could name up to 5 local fast food restaurants which they knew best. The top three corporations mentioned most frequently in the sector were: Cafe de Coral, Fairwood and McDonald's. 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 fast food restaurants are summarized as follows:
|
Date of survey |
21-22/3/17 |
7-8/6/17 |
6/12/17 |
6-7/6/18 |
Latest change |
|
|
Sample size |
512 |
505 |
502 |
502 |
-- |
|
|
Response rate* |
72.6% |
68.7% |
59.9% |
56.0% |
-- |
|
|
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding & error [19] |
Recognition rate |
-- |
|
McDonald's |
59.6{1}[20] |
53.7{2}[20] |
55.7{1} |
58.2+/-1.8{1} |
91.5% |
+2.5[20] |
|
Cafe de Coral |
57.5{3} |
53.1{3}[20] |
53.2{3} |
57.3+/-1.7{2} |
89.1% |
+4.1[20] |
|
Fairwood |
58.0{2} |
55.1{1}[20] |
55.5{2} |
57.1+/-1.7{3} |
88.5% |
+1.6 |
* "Overall response rate" was used before September 2017, thereafter, "effective response rate" was used.
[19] 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 +/-1.8 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.
[20] 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 McDonald's was considered as having the best CSR reputation among local fast food restaurants, scored 58.2 marks, while Cafe de Coral and Fairwood scored 57.3 and 57.1 marks respectively.
Commentary
Note: The following commentary was written by Research Manager of POP, Frank Lee.
According to our latest ethnic identity survey completed in early June, on a scale of 0-10 measuring the absolute strength of identity, the identity rating of "Hongkongers" stands at 8.54, that of "Asians" stands at 8.16, that of "members of the Chinese race" 7.10, that of "Chinese" 6.89, that of "global citizens" 6.61, and "citizens of PRC" 5.85. When importance ratings are incorporated to generate "identity indices" between 0 and 100 (the higher the index, the stronger the positive feeling), Hong Kong people's feeling is still the strongest as "Hongkongers" at 83.0 marks, followed by "Asians" 74.1, then "members of the Chinese race" 68.0, "Chinese" 66.6, "global citizens" 63.5, and finally "citizens of the PRC" 56.3. Among the six indices, that of "Hongkongers" increased significantly compared to the last survey, and also registered record high since the development of such indices in 2008, that of "Asians" also increased to a new high since 2008, while that of "global citizens" dropped to a new low since 2008. If we follow the usual study method of using a dichotomy of "Hongkonger" versus "Chinese" to measure Hong Kong people's ethnic identity, the proportion of people identifying themselves as "Hongkongers" outnumbers that of "Chinese" both in their narrow and broad senses, by 23 and 37 percentage points respectively. All in all, Hong Kong people continue to feel the strongest as "Hongkongers", followed by a number of cultural identities. The feeling of being "citizens of the PRC" is the weakest among all identities tested. As for the reasons behind the ups and downs of these figures, we will leave it to our readers to form their own judgment using the detailed records displayed in our "Opinion Daily".
As for the best fast food restaurants, our survey conducted in June shows that the most well-known fast food restaurant was Cafe de Coral. Results of rating survey, however, show that McDonald's has the best CSR reputation in the sector, scoring 58.2 marks, followed by Cafe de Coral and Fairwood, with 57.3 and 57.1 marks respectively.
Future Release (Tentative)
