The Public Opinion Programme (POP) at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre in the University of Hong Kong (formerly at the Social Sciences Research Centre in the University of Hong Kong) today releases its latest popularity ratings of Legistative Councillors and political groups. Figures are now available at its experimental website, the HKU POP Site, at http://hkupop.hku.hk which was set up on June 3.
In view of the growing number of public opinion polls in Hong Kong, the POP Site today reprints a Proposed Code of Professional Ethics and Practices for Public Opinion Research in Hong Kong which was first proposed by Dr Robert Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre of the University of Hong Kong, at the Conference on "Reforming the News Media in Hong Kong" held on January 26, 1999. The POP Site urges the local media to develop and adopt a code of conduct for opinion research as soon as possible.
According to the code proposed by Dr Chung, the print media should publish at least eight pieces of basic information when they carry an opinion poll. These include the name of any sponsor, the name of the researcher, definition of the target population, the dates of fieldwork, the sampling method (and the response rate if random selection is used), the sample size, a discussion of the precision of the findings, and the exact wording of the questions reported. The broadcast media should, on the other hand, publish at least five pieces of basic information when they carry an opinion poll. These include the name of any sponsor, the name of the researcher, definition of the target population, the dates of fieldwork, and the sample size. In case it is a web poll or an interactive tone dial survey, it should be clearly spelled out.
The popularity ratings of Legistative Councillors and political groups released by the POP Site today cover the period between July 1999 and June 2000, which concurs with the session of the First Legislative Council of the HKSAR. There are 12 separate rating surveys for legislators, and another 12 for political groups.
As in the past, when POP released these figures through its publication the POP Express, only figures and not comments are provided. In the near future, the POP Site will concentrate on compiling and releasing opinion data for direct public consumption.
The research design and contact information of all relevant surveys, the proposed code of conduct mentioned as well as the reference material it refers to, can all be found in the HKU POP Site at http://hkupop.hku.hk.