HKU POP SITE releases figures of people's satisfaction with Legco members in general, the Hong Kong Police Force and the PLA Hong Kong GarrisonBack


Press Release on July 10, 2007
 

| Latest Figures | Commentary | News about POP | About HKUPOP |
| Detailed Findings (People's Satisfaction with the Performance of Members of the Third HKSAR Legislative Council) |
| Detailed Findings (People's Satisfaction with the Performance of the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison) |
| Detailed Findings (People's Satisfaction with the Performance of the Hong Kong Police Force) |

Latest Figures
 

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 of people's satisfaction with the performance of Legislative Council members in general, the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison (PLA) and the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF). As a general practice, all figures have been weighted according to provisional figures obtained from the Census and Statistics Department regarding the gender-age distribution of the Hong Kong population at the end of 2006. Herewith the contact information for the latest survey:


 Date of survey  Overall sample size   Response rate Sampling error of percentages*
 15-21/6/2007   1,006   65.2%  +/-3%
* Calculated at 95% confidence level using full sample size. 「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. Questions using only sub-samples would have bigger sample error. Sampling errors of ratings are calculated according to the distribution of the scores collected. 
 

Recent figures are summarized as follows:

 
  Date of survey  19-21/6/06   14-20/9/06   18-20/12/06   19-21/3/07   15-21/6/07   Latest change 
  Sample base  1,012   1,013   1,016   1,007   1,006   -- 
  Overall response rate  58.2%   58.4%   64.1%   63.6%   65.2%   -- 
  Sampling error of percentages 
(at 95% confidence level)*
 +/-3%   +/-3%   +/-3%   +/-3%   +/-3%   -- 
  Finding /Sampling error*  Finding   Finding   Finding   Finding   Finding   Error   -- 
  Satisfaction rate of overall performance of Legco members**  25%   22%   22%   26%   28%   +/-3%   +2% 
  Dissatisfaction rate of overall performance of Legco members**  30%   29%   27%   24%   23%   +/-3%   -1% 
  Satisfaction rate of HKPF**  82%   78%   74%   80%   83%   +/-2%   +3% 
  Dissatisfaction rate of HKPF**  4%   5%   5%   3%   3%   +/-1%   -- 
  Satisfaction rate of PLA**  57%   57%   59%   56%   62%   +/-3%   +6% 
  Dissatisfaction rate of PLA**  2%   2%   3%   2%   2%   +/-1%   -- 
* Calculated at 95% confidence level using full sample size. 「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. Media can state 「sampling error of percentages not more than +/-3% at 95% confidence level」 when quoting the above figures.
** Collapsed from a 5-point scale.
 

Results of survey conducted in mid-June revealed that 28% of the respondents were satisfied with the overall performance of the Legco members, and 23% were dissatisfied. As for the performance of the HKPF, 83% were satisfied while 3% were dissatisfied. Besides, 62% were satisfied with the performance of the PLA stationed in Hong Kong, whereas only 2% were dissatisfied.


Commentary

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, 「Probably due to the effect of handover anniversary, and people's looking forward to the parachute show staged by the PLA August First Parachute Brigade, in our survey conducted in mid-June, Hong Kong people's satisfaction with the PLA Hong Kong Garrison has significantly increased compared to three months ago. On the other hand, after a round of hearings involving different police officers, people's satisfaction with the Hong Kong Police Force also has increased to record high since the survey began in July 1997. As for people's satisfaction with Legco members in general, satisfaction has increased a bit compared to three months ago, but is still half and half in absolute term. However, the figures only indicate people's satisfaction with 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 July 12, 2007, Thursday, between 1pm to 2pm, when the latest findings of people's appraisal of society's current conditions will be released. Then on July 17, 2007, Tuesday, between 1pm to 2pm, the latest popularity figures of CE Donald Tsang and Principal Officials under the accountability system will be released.

It is our general practice 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.

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, January 2 and April 10, 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

  • 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. 

  • 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

  • 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. 

  • 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.

| Latest Figures | Commentary | News about POP | About HKUPOP |
| Detailed Findings (People's Satisfaction with the Performance of Members of the Third HKSAR Legislative Council) |
| Detailed Findings (People's Satisfaction with the Performance of the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison) |
| Detailed Findings (People's Satisfaction with the Performance of the Hong Kong Police Force) |