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We at the Public Opinion Programme (POP) at the University of Hong Kong recently noticed that a number of news media has misquoted the contact information of our regular surveys. Take for example our tracking survey conducted from 19-21 March 2007, which is also the basis of this press release, the "overall sample size" of 1,007 actually refers to the number of successful cases. The "response rate" of 63.6% means that these 1,007 successful cases were registered from the 1,583 cases with valid contacts, not that we have only 640 successful cases as some media calculated according to their own interpretation. Journalists should note that our interpretation of these terms is in accordance with normal international standards.
Also according to normal international standards, the media has a duty to report the research design of any opinion survey it carries. If a media conducts a survey using the "interactive voice response system", or "IVR system", it must state so clearly and unambiguously, not just using general terms like "computer random telephone survey" or just "telephone survey". Likewise, before a media reports a "telephone survey" conducted by another organization, it should double-check whether that survey is in fact an IVR survey. If yes, the media has a duty to report it.
Reference: At the "HKU POP SITE" (http://hkupop.pori.hk), click "POP Column", then "Accuracy of IVR Surveys Questioned" by Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of POP, released on November 7, 2005.
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Commentary
Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "Compared to three months ago, people's satisfaction with the Hong Kong Police Force has increased significantly, while their dissatisfaction has dropped to record low since the survey began in July 1997. Although the hearing of Tsui Po-ko's case at the Coroner's Court has involved police officers with different backgrounds, it seems that the hearing has on the whole increased people's respect for and confidence in the police force. As for the other two survey items, namely, people's satisfaction with Legco members and with the PLA's Hong Kong Garrison, there are only small changes compared to three months ago. According to our long-term tracking survey, people's satisfaction with Legco members usually remains half and half, while their satisfaction with the two disciplinary forces is usually quite positive, with very low dissatisfaction rates. Regarding the overall performance of Legco members, please note that the figures only reveal the performance of Legco members on the whole, including those returned by geographical as well as functional constituencies. They are not direct measurements of individual Legco members' performance."
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 April 12, 2007, Thursday, between 1pm to 2pm, when the latest popularity figures of CE Donald Tsang and Principal Officials under the accountability system will be released. Then on April 17, 2007, Tuesday, between 1pm to 2pm, POP will release the latest figures on people's appraisal of local news media.
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 . 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.
For the whole of last year, we have included in our regular press releases a small educational section for the purpose of sharing our research experience with the readers and the general public, and the subject of our education section today is "About HKUPOP". In the near future, we will keep on stepping up our effort in promoting general civic education to enhance our POP Site accordingly.
About HKUPOP
People's satisfaction with the performance of Legislative Council members, Hong Kong Police Force and PLA's Hong Kong Garrison survey
Regarding the development of our surveys on people's satisfaction with the performance of Legislative Council members, Hong Kong Police Force and PLA's Hong Kong Garrison, we have explained it in our press release of October 3, 2006 and January 2, 2007. Today, we post it again to give readers a more comprehensive picture of such developments.
(1) Mapping people's satisfaction with the performance of Legislative Council members
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The First Legislative Council of the HKSAR was formed one year after the handover of Hong Kong. In July 1998, HKUPOP began our regular surveys on people's satisfaction with the performance of Legislative Council members in general. When the Second Legislative Council was formed two years later, we simply changed the name of the survey from "First Legco" to "Second Legco", without changing the research design. In October 2004, the "Third Legco" subsequently replaced the "Second Legco". From the beginning to its end, the "First Legco" surveys were conducted once every month. For the "Second Legco" surveys, the frequency was changed to once every two months until July 2003. Thereafter, the "Third Legco" surveys are conducted once every three months to cope with the changing social conditions.
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The question wordings used in the questionnaire are "Are you satisfied with the overall performance of the members of HKSAR Legislative Council?". Interviewers then probed respondents' degree of satisfaction and respondents could choose a single response ranged from "very satisfied", "quite satisfied", "half-half", "not quite satisfied" to "very dissatisfied".
(2) Mapping people's satisfaction with the performance of the Hong Kong Police Force and PLA's Hong Kong Garrison
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Shortly after the handover of Hong Kong in July 1997, HKUPOP began our regular surveys on people's satisfaction with the performance of the Hong Kong Police Force and PLA's Hong Kong Garrison. From the beginning, the surveys were conducted once every month. Then in September 2000 the frequency was changed to once every two months. Since October 2003, the surveys have been conducted once every three months to cope with the changing social conditions.
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The question wordings used in the questionnaire are "Are you satisfied with the performance of the Hong Kong Police Force / People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison?" Interviewers then probed respondents' degree of satisfaction and respondents could choose a single response ranged from "very satisfied", "quite satisfied", "half-half", "not quite satisfied" to "very dissatisfied".
Before May 2000, the sample size of our regular surveys was set at slightly over 500, we increased it to at least 1,000 after that. The above surveys are no exceptions. The findings of these surveys are now published regularly on-line at our HKU POP Site, while all previous findings published via our newsletter POP Express have also been uploaded on-line in various formats.
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