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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1987
COLLUSION OR SPEECHES AND
IN OTHER WORDS. THE AMOUNT OF PASSIVITY, MANIPULATION TENDS TO BE MINIMUM IN INDIVIDUAL INDIVIDUAL WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS, BUT MORE PREVALENT IN SIGNATURE CAMPAIGNS AND PRE-PRINTED IDENTICAL LETTERS, WITH WRITTEN BY SMALL GROUPS OF INDIVIDUALS IN BETWEEN, DR HO SAID.
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SUBMISSIONS
INVOLVING A MORE VALIDITY AND A NON-PROBABILITY
"FURTHERMORE, THE INFERENCES DRAWN FROM A SURVEY PROBABILITY SAMPLING CAN BE GENERALISED WITH MUCH AUTHORITY THAN THOSE FROM A SURVEY INVOLVING SAMPLING,
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"IN THE SAME VEIN, THE CONCLUSIONS DERIVED FROM A SURVEY SAMPLED ON A GENERAL. POPULATION WILL BE SUBJECT TO MUCH LESS LIMITATIONS THAN THOSE OF A SURVEY SAMPLED ON A SPECIFIC POPULATION GROUP," HE CONTINUED.
DR HO COMMENDED THE SURVEY OFFICE REPORT TO THE PUBLIC BECAUSE HE FELT THAT THE OFFICE HAD ADHERED CONSCIENTIOUSLY TO ITS TERMS OF REFERENCE BOTH IN GATHERING PUBLIC OPINION AND VIEWS SUBMITTED TO IT OR THOSE EXPRESSED IN THE MEDIA, AND IN CLASSIFYING, TABULATING, SUMMARISING AND PRESENTING THE VIEWS FACTUALLY IN A SYSTEMATIC AND COMPREHENSIBLE MANNER.
ALSO, THE OFFICE
REFRAINED FROM INTERPRETING AND INFERRING FROM THE DATA COLLECTED. IT RESPECTED THE INDEPENDENT AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS OF AGB MCNAIR HK LTD, A RESEARCH FIRM WITH AN INTERNATIONAL STANDING IN PUBLIC OPINION SURVEYS, AND LEFT THE FIRM TO CARRY ITS JOB WITHOUT INTERFERENCE.
OUT
THE TWO INDEPENDENT MONITORS, WHO CLOSELY SUPERVISED THE VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE WORK OF THE SURVEY OFFICE, WERE ALSO FULLY SATISFIED WITH THE WAY THE COMMISSIONER HAD CONDUCTED THE PUBLIC OPINION COLLECTION EXERCISE, DR HO OBSERVED.
NOTING THAT POLITICAL REFORMS HAD FAR-REACHING, LONG-TERM SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS, DR HO HOPED THAT THE GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL, IN DELIBERATING ON THE MOST APPROPRIATE DEVELOPMENTS IN REPERESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT FOR HONG KONG IN 1988, WOULD NOT ONLY MAKE DECISIONS WITH REFERENCE TO THE FINDINGS OF THE SURVEY OFFICE REPORT, BUT ALSO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT A HOST OF INTERLOCKING CONSIDERATIONS.
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THESE CONSIDERATIONS INCLUDED THE CONTINUOUS STABILITY AND PROSPERITY OF THE TERRITORY; CONVERGENCE WITH THE BASIC LAW, A SMOOTH AND UNEVENTFUL TRANSITION; BUILDING ON THE GOOD FEATURES OF OUR EXISTING SYSTEM; RETAINING OR FURTHER STRENGTHENING OF BUSINESS CONFIDENCE, AND PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN THE GOVERNMENT AS WELL.
MOREOVER, THE PUBLIC WISH FOR A GRADUAL, STEP BY STEP CHANGE; INCREMENTAL POLITICAL REFORMS ON A WIDER SCOPE RATHER THAN JUST ON DIRECT ELECTIONS; THE NEED FOR AN EFFICIENT, BUT RESPONSIVE GOVERNMENT, AND SUGGESTIONS RAISED IN TODAY'S DEBATE SHOULD ALSO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.
DR HO ADDED THAT HIS VIEWS WERE SHARED AND LEGCO COLLEAGUE, THE HON F.K. HU,
ENDORSED BY HIS
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