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


Press Release on November 3, 2005
 

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. As a general practice, all figures have been weighted according to the gender-age distribution of the Hong Kong population obtained from the 2001 Population Census, and are summarized below:

 

 Date of survey 18-21/10/04 17-19/1/05 18-21/4/05 18-20/7/05 25-29/10/05 Latest change
 Sample base 1,011 1,022 1,012 1,008 1,017 ---
 Overall response rate 63.3% 64.8% 66.7% 62.6% 63.5% ---
 Sampling error of indicators(at 95% confidence level)* +/- 0.12 +/- 0.14 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.12 ---
 Sampling error of personal rating (at 95% confidence level)* +/- 1.2 +/- 1.6 +/- 1.4 +/- 1.4 +/- 1.2 ---
 Degree of freedom 7.17 7.54 7.44 7.40 7.52 +0.12
 Degree of civilization 7.13 7.24 7.32 7.14 7.37 +0.23
 Degree of public order 6.85 7.18 7.18 6.99 7.16 +0.17
 Degree of stability 6.67 6.79 6.94 6.94 7.15 +0.21
 Degree of corruption-free practices 7.04 7.07 7.15 6.80 7.09 +0.29
 Degree of efficiency 6.57 6.73 6.93 6.72 6.92 +0.20
 Degree of prosperity 6.29 6.60 6.74 6.77 6.80 +0.03
 Degree of equality 6.18 6.15 6.47 6.10 6.46 +0.36
 Degree of social welfare sufficiency 6.00 6.31 6.48 6.18 6.32 +0.14
 Degree of democracy 6.02 6.08 6.27 6.14 6.29 +0.15
 Degree of fairness 5.90 5.52 6.29 5.90 6.15 +0.25
 Impartiality of the courts 6.77 7.05 7.04 6.82 7.06 +0.24
 Compliance with the rule of law 6.71 6.73 6.70 6.70 6.88 +0.18
 Fairness of the judicial system 6.59 6.72 6.75 6.68 6.81 +0.13
 Support rating of Andrew Li 60.5 62.0 62.7 62.9 64.4 +1.5

* "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.

 

Regarding the social indicators, results obtained in late October showed that, on a scale of 0-10, Hong Kong's degree of "freedom" scored the highest rating with 7.52 marks. "Civilization", "public order" and "stability" followed behind, with respective scores of 7.37, 7.16 and 7.15 marks. "Corruption-free practices", "efficiency" and "prosperity" formed the next tier, scoring 7.09, 6.92 and 6.80 marks respectively. Meanwhile, the ratings of "equality", "social welfare sufficiency" and "democracy" were 6.46, 6.32 and 6.29 marks correspondingly. Last of all, "fairness" scored 6.15 marks.

 

As for the legal indicators, people's latest appraisal of the impartiality of the courts scored 7.06 marks, that of the compliance with the rule of law was 6.88 marks, while the rating of the fairness of the judicial system scored 6.81 marks. Meanwhile, the latest popularity rating of Chief Justice Andrew Li Kwok-nang, a representative figure of the judicial system, was 64.4 marks, on a scale of 0-100.

 

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "The readings of all subjective indicators have increased over the past 3 months. Except for 'prosperity', all increases are statistically significant. 'Impartiality of the courts', 'fairness of the judicial system' and the popularity rating of Chief Justice Andrew Li Kwok-nang have all reached record high since the handover. In terms of ranking, 'freedom' and 'civilization' are still topping the list, while 'fairness' and 'democracy' are still at the bottom. 'Prosperity', on the other hand, has gradually recovered to the middle of the list after its mid-2003 drop to the bottom."

 

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. The date and time of our next release will be November 8, 2005, Tuesday, at 2 pm, the latest figures of people's satisfaction with the performances of the Legislative Council members in general, the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong garrison and the Hong Kong Police Force will be released. Then on November 10, 2005, Thursday, at 2 pm, we will release the latest popularity figures of CE Donald Tsang and Principal Officials under the accountability system.

 

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 . 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.