Background of StudiesBack

The Public Opinion Programme (POP) was established in June 1991 to collect and study public opinion on topics which could be of interest to academics, journalists, policy-makers, and the general public. POP was at first under the Social Sciences Research Centre, a unit under the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Hong Kong, it was transferred to the Journalism and Media Studies Centre in the University of Hong Kong in May 2000. In January 2002, it was transferred back to the Faculty of Social Sciences in the University of Hong Kong. Since its establishment, POP has been providing quality survey services to a wide range of public and private organizations, on condition that they allow the POP Team to design and conduct the research independently, and to bear the final responsibilities. POP also insists that the data collected should be open for public consumption in the long run.

In March 2006, the Community Business Limited commissioned POP to conduct a public opinion poll entitled "Work Life Balance Survey of the Hong Kong Working Population 2006". The primary objective of the survey was to gauge the current status of Hong Kong people's work and personal life, their satisfaction of work-life balance, as well as their expectation of a balanced life. The research instrument used in this study was designed entirely by the POP Team after consulting Community Business Limited. Fieldwork operations and data analysis were also conducted independently by the POP Team, without interference from any outside party. In other words, POP was given full autonomy to design and conduct the survey, and POP would take full responsibility for all the findings reported herewith.