Research DesignBack

The research comprised two parts, namely, quantitative and qualitative studies.

The quantitative survey was done by means of a random telephone survey conducted by real interviewers under close supervision. All data were collected by our interviewers using a Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) system which allowed real-time data capture and consolidation. To ensure data quality, on top of on-site supervision, voice recording, screen capturing and camera surveillance were used to monitor the interviewers’ performance.

To minimize sampling bias, telephone numbers were first drawn randomly from the residential telephone directories as “seed numbers”, from which another set of numbers was generated by computer, in order to capture the unlisted numbers. Duplicated numbers were then filtered, and the remaining numbers were mixed in random order to produce the final telephone sample.

The quantitative survey was targeted at three different groups, namely, 1) local population aged 15 to 45 years with secondary or lower education attainment who were unemployed / planning to change jobs / working as blue collars, 2) Form 3 to Form 7 students, and 3) parents of secondary schools students. When telephone contact was successfully established with a target household, one eligible person would be selected. If more than one subject had been available, selection was made using the “next birthday rule” which selected the person who had his/her birthday next. If the selection person was aged below 18, parent consent would be sought before the interview started.

Fieldwork was conducted during the period of June 25 to August 4, 2010. A total of 1,010 qualified respondents were successfully interviewed by telephone, including 310 workers, 284 students and 416 parents, accounting for 31%, 28% and 41% of the total sample respectively. The overall effective response rate of this survey was 70.6%, and the sampling error for percentages was less than plus/minus 5.9 percentage points at 95% confidence level.

For qualitative research, POP conducted 6 focus groups between August and October 2010. Participants included 1) local population aged 15 to 45 years with secondary or lower education attainment who were unemployed / planning to change jobs / working as blue collars, 2) Form 3 to Form 7 students, 3) parents of secondary schools students, 4) students/graduates of CICTA, 5) South Asian ethnic groups, and 6) new immigrants from Mainland China. There were 6 to 11 participants in each discussion group. Besides, POP dispatched questionnaires to 180 secondary school career counseling teachers through emails in early November 2010, 16 valid questionnaires were returned. Since the number of questionnaires was small, this part was also taken as qualitative in nature.