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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 8.69 and 8.67 marks, followed by freedoms to engage in "academic research" and "artistic and literary creation", attaining 8.25 and 8.03 marks correspondingly. Freedoms of "speech", "procession and demonstration", "publication" and "press" formed the next tier, with respective scores of 7.94, 7.67, 7.61 and 7.54 marks. Finally, the freedoms of "association" and to "strike" attained 7.47 and 6.80 marks correspondingly.
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Commentary
Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "Compared to 6 months ago, there are ups and downs across all 10 subjective freedom indicators. However, other than 'freedom of speech' and 'freedom to engage in academic research' which have registered significant increases, all other fluctuations are within maximum sampling errors. During the previous round of survey conducted 6 months ago, 5 out of 10 indicators were at record high since the survey started after the handover, they included 'freedom of press', 'freedom of speech', 'freedom of procession and demonstration', 'freedom of association' and 'freedom to strike'. In our latest survey, 'freedom of speech' and 'freedom of association' climbed further to another historical high, while 'freedom to enter or leave Hong Kong' and 'freedom to engage in academic research' also made records. This shows that people are feeling good about the degree of freedom in Hong Kong. In terms of relative ranking, 'freedom of religious belief' and 'freedom to enter or leave Hong Kong' continue to cluster at the top, with over 8.5 marks. 'Freedom to strike' continues to become a group of its own, down the bottom of the list with less than 7.0 marks. In the past, the remaining 7 indicators could be split into two clusters, but our latest survey shows that they are spreading out. Whether this would become a long term trend or not remains to be seen."
News about POP
POP's normal practice is to release the results of our regular surveys every
Tuesday afternoon via our POP Site, except during public holidays, each time
with a forecast of the items to be released in the next 7 days. According to
schedule, our next release of regular survey findings will be July 25, 2006,
Tuesday, between 1pm to 2pm, when the latest popularity figures of CE Donald
Tsang and HKSAR Government will be released.
Our general practice is to answer all questions on the research design of the surveys published in the POP Site as soon as we receive them, but we will not further comment on the findings. We welcome questions for follow-up purpose, please email them to us at <[email protected]>. 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 POP, is responsible for everything posted herewith, except for column articles which represent the stand of their authors.
Starting from January 2006, we have included in our regular press releases a small educational section for the purpose of general civic education, so that we can share our experience with the general public. The subject of our education section today is still "FAQs of Opinion Research".
FAQs of Opinion Research
Q: Why has HKUPOP changed the measurement of freedom indicators from once every 3 months in 2005 to once every 6 months in 2006?
A: The ideal frequency of tracking surveys depends on how public opinion of relevant items fluctuates, and how serious we take those fluctuations. Under limited resources, HKUPOP regularly reviews the frequency of all tracking surveys. After the latest review, POP decided to extend the cycle of freedom indicators from once every 3 months to once every 6 months, in order to spare more resources for other surveys. As a matter of fact, when POP first started these surveys in 1997 after the handover, our initial frequency was once every month. It was then reduced to once every 2 months, then 4 times a year, then twice a year. The considerations in making these changes were resources constraint as well as the observed stability and fluctuations of these indicators. However, in order to be fair, POP's general policy is that once the frequency of a tracking survey is fixed, POP will not alter the fieldwork dates in order to suit particular events which may affect the results.
Q: Is there an ideal frequency for opinion polling?
A: Please refer to the answer given in our press release of January 24,
2006.
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