Overall reactions to the agreement (Chart 4)
(I)
(II)
Very good to the people of HK
4%
10%
Quite good
53%
71%
Good in some ways, bad in others Not particularly good
20%
14%
3%
1%
Not at all good
Less
Less
than 1%
than 1%
Don't know
12%
4%
Never heard of the agreement
8%
(The figures in column (II) show the shift in reaction after the respondents were exposed to details of individual sections of the agreement by the
interviewer)
Overall disposition towards the agreement
(d)
(Chart 38)
Very pleased and very reassured Generally pleased but need to be
reassured about some parts
16%
35%
Can't be reassured until the
41%
agreement is implemented
Don't believe in the agreement Don't know
45
4%
5%
Methodology
He
4
The Commissioner for Census and Statistics was asked by UMELCO to comment on the methodology adopted in the survey. His assessment is that the SRH survey was a properly conducted survey and that it would seem to be the most professional one amongst surveys on 1997 reported to have been conducted. pointed out however that the response rate to participate in the survey was
was low, only 55%, although this is typical of surveys undertaken by private organisations in Hong Kong. The effect of this on the findings was not known but probably the results reflected in the survey would still give the right orders of magnitude.
Media coverage of the survey
5
In Hong Kong, extension and prominent coverage has been given to the findings of the survey, particularly by four of the sponsors, Ming Pao, Oriental Daily News, SCMP and Commercial Radio, who all carried detailed reports of the findings on the day of release of the survey results. Other papers followed up a few days later. The general view, also picked up by the leading left-wing papers, was that the public said "yes but" to the agreement (although Wen Wei Po noted the yes rather than the buts). Ming Pao and Sing Tao Jih Pao both
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