HKU POP SITE releases the latest figures on subjective social and legal indicatorsBack


Press Release on May 4, 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 figures on subjective social and legal indicators. A column article entitled "Ranking of Universities should not be a Competition for Honour", which has been published by the Hong Kong Economic Journal, is now available at the POP Site. Recent figures of the indicators are summarized as follows:

 
 Date of survey 16-23/4/03 14-16/7/03 19-22/10/03 9-12/1/04 19-22/4/04 Latest change
 Sample base 1,021 1,073 1,017 1,026 1,029 ---
 Overall response rate 68.9% 69.2% 60.0% 64.6% 61.1% ---
 Sampling error of indicators(at 95% confidence level)* +/- 0.12 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.14 ---
 Sampling error of personal rating (at 95% confidence level)* +/- 1.2 +/- 1.4 +/- 1.4 +/- 1.6 +/- 1.2 ---
 Degree of civilization 6.74 6.78 6.87 7.30 7.05 -0.25
 Degree of freedom 7.24 6.84 7.10 7.38 6.96 -0.42
 Degree of corruption-free practices 6.87 6.68 6.90 6.87 6.83 -0.04
 Degree of public order 6.97 6.84 6.75 7.03 6.68 -0.35
 Degree of stability 5.92 5.82 6.27 6.73 6.41 -0.32
 Degree of efficiency 5.82 6.13 6.28 6.79 6.37 -0.42
 Degree of equality 6.35 6.12 6.25 6.23 6.08 -0.15
 Degree of prosperity 5.33 5.18 5.78 6.29 6.06 -0.23
 Degree of social welfare sufficiency 6.11 6.22 6.30 6.38 6.02 -0.36
 Degree of democracy 6.09 5.59 5.90 5.79 5.63 -0.16
 Degree of fairness 5.81 5.67 5.82 5.68 5.62 -0.06
 Impartiality of the courts 6.78 6.68 6.70 6.88 6.82 -0.06
 Compliance with the rule of law 6.51 6.43 6.50 6.59 6.27 -0.32
 Fairness of the judicial system 6.40 6.18 6.33 6.50 6.25 -0.25
 Support rating of Andrew Li 58.8 56.2 56.6 59.4 58.0 -1.4

* "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.

 

Regarding the social indicators, results obtained in late April showed that, on a scale of 0-10, Hong Kong's degree of "civilization" scored the highest rating, with 7.05 marks. "Freedom", "corruption-free practices" and "public order" followed behind, attaining 6.96, 6.83 and 6.68 marks respectively. "Stability" and "efficiency" formed the next tier, scoring 6.41 and 6.37 marks correspondingly. Meanwhile, the ratings of "equality", "prosperity" and "social welfare sufficiency" were 6.08, 6.06 and 6.02 marks in respective orders. Besides, "democracy" and "fairness" scored 5.63 and 5.62 marks respectively.

 

As for the legal indicators, people's latest appraisal of the impartiality of the courts scored 6.82 marks, that of the compliance with the rule of law scored 6.27 marks, while the rating of the fairness of the judicial system was 6.25 marks. Meanwhile, the latest popularity rating of Chief Justice Andrew Li Kowk-nang, a representative figure of the judicial system, was 58.0 marks, on a scale of 0-100.

 

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, made the following analysis: "The survey was conducted after NPC interpreted the Basic Law, but before it vetoed universal suffrage in 2007/08. The full impact of NPC's decision, therefore, is still to be seen. Nevertheless, all 14 subjective indicators, together with the popularity rating of Chief Justice Andrew Li, the figurehead of the judicial system, have already plunged. People's dissatisfaction is brewing. Last year's July 1 Demonstration pushed people's dissatisfaction to the extreme, as most subjective indicators fell to record low. Now, after the NPC interpretation, 5 out of the 14 indicators have fallen even below those of mid-July last year. They include 'fairness', 'social welfare sufficiency', 'equality', 'compliance with the rule of law', and 'public order'. The government must now handle people's dissatisfaction with care."

 

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 of regular survey findings will be May 11, 2004, Tuesday, at 2 pm, the latest popularity figures of CE Tung Chee-Hwa and Principal Officials under the accountability system will be released. Besides, we will also release the latest ratings of the top 10 Legislative Councillors.

 

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.