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SCMP Reporter

A new interviewing technique is to be used in a survey to discover how many mainland children are eligible for the right of abode.

 The technique aims to avoid embarrassment and encourage families to tell the truth about their illegitimate children.

 The 'randomised response technique' will be applied to about 10,000 families in a territory-wide survey conducted by the Census and Statistics Department starting this month.

 Another 10,000 households involved will be asked directly if they have spouses, children or grandchildren on the mainland.

 Information about the children's age, marital status, socio-economic status and their intentions to come to the SAR will be gathered.

 The first 10,000 will go through a random process to decide whether they answer a question about how many mainland children they have or how many taxi rides they have taken in the past week.

 The interviewer will not be aware which question is being answered. Answers to both questions will be provided in multiple-choice form.

 'Under such circumstances, the respondent will feel comfortable and non-pressured in providing true information,' department chief Frederick Ho Wing-huen said.

 Mr Ho said the department's interviewers would try to ensure the survey was conducted in private. 'Special care will be needed in the enumeration work' he said.

 More than 100 staff will conduct interviews from this month to May. Data analysis is expected to be completed in July.

 Mr Ho said people in Eastern, Yau Tsim Mong, Shamshuipo, Kowloon City, Wong Tai Sin, Kwun Tong, Kwai Ching and Tai Po would have a higher chance of being selected, as previous studies suggested families in those areas were more likely to have children on the mainland.

 The last study took place in 1996 and did not include those born out of wedlock. It showed there were 320,000 mainland children eligible for right of abode. Sixty per cent were aged 20 or above.



New technique for 'truthful' interviews