Special Survey of Orange County 2002

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

The Orange County Survey is a special edition of the PPIC Statewide 
Survey, which is directed by Mark Baldassare, research director at the 
Public Policy Institute of California, with assistance in research and 
writing from Jon Cohen, survey research manager, and Dorie Apollonio and 
Eliana Kaimowitz, survey research associates. 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 2,007 
Orange County adult residents interviewed from November 6 to November 14, 
2002. 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. Casa Hispana translated the survey into 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 2,007 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,Anaheim Hills,Brea, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Fountain 
Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, La Habra, La Palma, Los 
Alamitos, Midway City, Orange, Placentia, Rossmoor, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, 
Stanton, Sunset Beach, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster, and Yorba Linda. 
South County refers to cities and communities south of the 55 Freeway, 
including Aliso Viejo, Capistrano Beach, Corona del Mar, Coto de Caza, 
Dana Point, El Toro, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, 
Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Modjeska, Newport Beach, Portola 
Hills, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Trabuco, 
and Trabuco Canyon. 

We present results for non-Hispanic whites (referred to in the tables and 
text 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 registered Democrats and Republicans with those who are 
independent” or decline to state. 

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, including the Special 
Survey of Orange County in 2001; Gallup Poll (November 2002); Washington 
Post-Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation-Harvard University survey (March 
2001); NBC-Wall Street Journal Poll (September 1999) and the Index of 
Consumer Sentiment, Surveys of Consumer Attitudes, Survey Research Center, 
University of Michigan (October 2002).