Special Survey of Orange County 2001

Survey Methodology

                            
The Orange County Survey is a special edition of the PPIC Statewide
Survey, which is directed by Mark Baldassare, a senior fellow at the
Public Policy Institute of California, with research assistance from Lisa
Cole and Eric McGhee. The survey was conducted in collaboration with the
School of Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine;
however, the survey methodology and questions and the content of this
report were solely determined by Mark Baldassare.

The findings of this survey are based on a telephone
survey of 2,004 Orange County adult residents
interviewed from August 20 to August 31, 2001.
Interviewing took place on weekend days and
weekday nights, using a computer-generated random
sample of telephone numbers, ensuring that both
listed and unlisted telephone numbers were called. All
telephone exchanges in Orange County were eligible
for calling. Telephone numbers in the survey sample
were called up to five times to increase the likelihood
of reaching eligible households. Once a household
was reached, an adult respondent (18 or older) was
randomly chosen for interviewing by using the "last
birthday method" to avoid biases in age and gender.
                            
Each interview took an average of 20 minutes to
complete. Interviewing was conducted in English or
Spanish. 

We used recent U.S. Census and state figures to
compare the demographic characteristics of the
survey sample with characteristics of Orange
County's adult population. The survey sample was
closely comparable to the census and state figures.

The survey data in this report were statistically
weighted to account for any demographic differences.
                            
The sampling error for the total sample of 2,004
adults is +/- 2 percent at the 95 percent confidence
level. This means that 95 times out of 100, the results
will be within 2 percentage points of what they would
be if all Orange County adults were interviewed. The
sampling error for subgroups is larger. Sampling error
is just one type of error to which surveys are subject.
                            
Results may also be affected by factors such as
question wording, question order, and survey timing.

Throughout the report, we refer to two geographic
regions. North County refers to cities and
communities north of the 55 Freeway, including
Anaheim, Orange, Villa Park, La Habra, Brea, Buena
Park, Fullerton, Placentia, Yorba Linda, La Palma,
Cypress, Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, Seal Beach,
Westminster, Midway City, Stanton, Fountain Valley,
Huntington Beach, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Tustin,
Tustin Foothills, and Costa Mesa. South County
refers to cities and communities south of the 55
Freeway, including Newport Beach, Irvine, Lake
Forest, Newport Coast, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Hills,
Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Mission Viejo,
Portola Hills, Rancho Santa Margarita, Foothill
Ranch, Coto de Caza, Trabuco, Laguna Beach, Dana
Point, San Clemente, Capistrano Beach, and San
Juan Capistrano. In the analysis of questions on the
proposed El Toro airport, we include Newport Beach
in the North County. 
                            
We also present results for non-Hispanic whites
(referred to in the tables as "whites"), Latinos, and
Asians because each group accounts for a substantial
number of the county's adult population. We also
contrast the opinions of Democrats and Republicans
with "other" or "independent" registered voters. This
third category includes those who are registered to
vote as "decline to state" as well as a fewer number
who say they are members of other political parties.
                            
In some cases, we compare the Orange County
Survey responses to responses in the 1982-2000
Orange County Annual Surveys at the University of
California, Irvine, the PPIC Statewide Surveys, and
national surveys by the University of Michigan and
CBS/New York Times.