HKU POP SITE releases the latest results of various subjective social indicatorsBack


Press Release on January 20, 2004
 

The Public Opinion Programme (POP) at the University of Hong Kong today releases on schedule via the "HKU POP SITE" (http://hkupop.pori.hk) the latest results of various subjective social indicators. Recent figures are summarized as follows:

 
 Date of survey 16-23/4/03 14-16/7/03 19-22/10/03 9-12/1/04 Latest change
 Sample base 1,021 1,073 1,017 1,026 ---
 Overall response rate 68.9% 69.2% 60.0% 64.6% ---
 Sampling error of indicators(at 95% confidence level)* +/- 0.12 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.12 ---
 
 Degree of freedom 7.24 6.84 7.10 7.38 +0.28
 Degree of civilization 6.74 6.78 6.87 7.30 +0.43
 Degree of public order 6.97 6.84 6.75 7.03 +0.28
 Degree of corruption-free practices 6.87 6.68 6.90 6.87 -0.03
 Degree of efficiency 5.82 6.13 6.28 6.79 +0.51
 Degree of stability 5.92 5.82 6.27 6.73 +0.46
 Degree of social welfare sufficiency 6.11 6.22 6.30 6.38 +0.08
 Degree of prosperity 5.33 5.18 5.78 6.29 +0.51
 Degree of equality 6.35 6.12 6.25 6.23 -0.02
 Degree of democracy 6.09 5.59 5.90 5.79 -0.11
 Degree of fairness 5.81 5.67 5.82 5.68 -0.14

* "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.

 

Results obtained in early January showed that, on a scale of 0-10, Hong Kong's degree of "freedom" remained to score the highest rating, with 7.38 marks. "Civilization" and "public order" followed behind, attaining 7.30 and 7.03 marks respectively. "Corruption-free practices", "efficiency" and "stability" formed the next tier, scoring 6.87, 6.79 and 6.73 marks correspondingly. Meanwhile, the ratings of "social welfare sufficiency", "prosperity" and "equality" were 6.38, 6.29 and 6.23 marks in respective orders. Besides, "democracy" and "fairness" scored 5.79 and 5.68 marks respectively.

 

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, made the following analysis: "Among the 11 subjective indicators, 'freedom' continues to top the list as usual. It has also gone up significantly since July last year, obviously being a positive effect of the July 1 and New Year Rallies. Two other indicators have also surged since July: 'stability' and 'prosperity' have gone up from the 8th and 11th places to the 6th and 8th places respectively, indicating economic recovery. However, 'democracy' and 'fairness' have now dropped to the bottom, to become the most dissatisfied items."

 

POP's normal practice is to release the results of our regular surveys every Tuesday at 2 pm via our POP Site, except during public holidays, each time with a forecast of the items to be released in the forthcoming week. We will review and adjust this operation regularly. According to this schedule, the date and time of our next release will be January 27, 2004, Tuesday, at 2 pm, the latest figures of the subjective legal indicators will be released.

 

Shall anyone have any question regarding the research design of the surveys published in the POP Site, members of the POP Team will be happy to answer them, but we will not further comment on the findings. Shall any person or journalist have any other questions, please email them to us at <[email protected]>. The Director of Public Opinion Programme would answer them as soon as possible. We will keep such an arrangement under constant review, suggestions most welcome. Please note that everything carried in the POP Site 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 which represent the stand of their authors.