ORANGE COUNTY ANNUAL SURVEY 1997

Methods 

                            The Orange County Annual Survey, UCI, was
                            co-directed by Mark Baldassare, professor and chair
                            of urban and regional planning, and Cheryl Katz,
                            research associate. The random telephone survey
                            included interviews with 1,002 Orange County adult
                            residents between Sept. 4-Sept. 14, 1997. We follow
                            the methods used in the 15 previous surveys. 

                            Interviewing was conducted on weekend days and
                            weekday nights, using a computer-generated random
                            sample of telephone numbers. Within a household,
                            adult respondents were randomly chosen for
                            interviews. Each interview included 66 questions and
                            took an average of 20 minutes to complete. The
                            interviewing was conducted in English and Spanish,
                            as needed. The completion rate for the survey was 66
                            percent. This rate is consistent with earlier Orange
                            County Annual Surveys. The fieldwork was
                            conducted by Interviewing Services of America of
                            Van Nuys, CA. 

                            The survey sample was compared to the U.S. Census
                            and state figures by city for Orange County and was
                            found to represent the actual regional distribution of
                            Orange County residents. The sample's demographic
                            characteristics were also closely comparable to the
                            census and other survey data including previous
                            Orange County Annual Surveys. 

                            The sampling error for this survey is +/- 3 percent at
                            the 95 percent confidence level. This means that 95
                            times out of 100, the results will be within 3
                            percentage points of what they would be if all adults
                            in Orange County were interviewed. The sampling
                            error for any subgroup would be larger. Sampling
                            error is just one type of error to which surveys are
                            subject. Results may also be affected by question
                            wording, ordering, and survey timing. 

                            Throughout the report, we refer to four geographic
                            regions. North County includes Anaheim, Orange,
                            Villa Park, La Habra, Brea, Buena Park, Fullerton,
                            Placentia and Yorba Linda. West County includes La
                            Palma, Cypress, Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, Seal
                            Beach, Westminster, Midway City, Stanton, Fountain
                            Valley and Huntington Beach. Central County
                            includes Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Tustin, Tustin
                            Foothills and Costa Mesa. South Countyincludes
                            Newport Beach, Irvine, Lake Forest, Aliso Viejo,
                            Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, Portola
                            Hills, Rancho Santa Margarita, Coto de Caza,
                            Trabuco Highlands, El Toro Station, Laguna Beach,
                            Dana Point, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano.
                            In the analysis of the questions on the proposed
                            airport, we divide the county into North County and
                            South County, with Newport Beach included in the
                            northern region.