How the Poll Was Conducted

The poll was a collaborative effort between the Los Angeles Times and the Hong Kong Transition Project, sponsored by Baptist University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong University, University of Southern Queensland and University of Hawaii.

The Times Poll interviewed 773 adult Chinese residents in six Southern California counties--Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura--by telephone between May 9 and May 27. Interviews were conducted in Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese) and English by Chinese American interviewers at Interviewing Services of America Inc. of Van Nuys.

Several leaders from the Chinese community--including Stewart Kwoh, president and executive director of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California, Peter Woo, president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, and Michael Woo, former L.A. City Council member and president of Independent Fiber Network--were called in as consultants for the project.

A list of Chinese surnames was used to draw the sample from phone directories in the six counties. Results were adjusted slightly so the sample would conform with census information about gender, age and region. The margin of sampling error for the entire sample is plus or minus 4 percentage points. The sampling error for other subgroups may vary. In addition to sampling error, poll results can be affected by factors such as question wording and the order in which questions are presented. Also, surname samples of this type do not allow for the sampling of people with unlisted telephone numbers or of Chinese residents who do not have Chinese surnames.

The Hong Kong Transition Project (HKTP) poll was carried out by telephone interviews using the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Computer Aided Telephone Interviewing (CATI) lab. The poll was conducted May 28 through June 4, and 1,125 adult Hong Kong residents were interviewed. The sample was drawn from the current residential telephone directories using random digit dialing techniques. Hong Kong has eight-digit telephone numbers, with the first four digits indicating currently used zones. The results of a survey of this sample size have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The sampling error for some subgroups and polls taken at other times may vary. The poll conforms to the guidelines set forth by the World Assn. of Public Opinion Research.