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

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 freedom indicators. Recent figures are summarized as follows:

* "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 survey conducted in early July revealed that, on a scale of 0-10, the freedoms of "religious belief" and "entering or leaving Hong Kong" scored the highest ratings with 8.43 and 8.24 marks, followed by freedoms to engage in "artistic and literary creation", "academic research" and "procession and demonstration", attaining 7.99, 7.98 and 7.64 marks correspondingly. Freedoms of "association " and "publication" formed the next tier, with respective scores of 7.12 and 7.06 marks. Meanwhile, the freedoms of "press", "strike" and "speech" scored 6.78, 6.77 and 6.66 marks in respective orders.

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "Three conclusions can be drawn from the trend of changes of the 10 subjective freedom indicators over the past 12 months. (1) People still consider Hong Kong to be a very free society. Compared to the last round of social indicator survey (in mid-April), the score of the poorest freedom indicator this time is just below those of 'civilization', 'corruption-free' and 'public order' last time. (2) The July 1 rallies have significantly pushed up people's appraisal of Hong Kong's 'freedom of procession and demonstration'. The score surged to 7.49 after last year's rally, it went further up to 7.64 this year, and occupied the 5th rank. (3) Three similar indicators, the freedoms of 'speech', 'press' and 'publication', continued to plummet over the past 6 months. That of 'speech' has even dropped to the bottom, indicating the lingering effect of the departure of some outspoken radio talk show hosts. This deserves more attention."

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 July 27, 2004, Tuesday, at 2 pm, the latest figures on subjective social and 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.