This CSS poll was implemented during the period 22-28 December 2001 on two samples selected in accordance with standard statistical practices. The poll was carried out in he Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on a national sample (NS) of 1387 respondents 19 years of age and above drawn from all the Kingdom’s governorates, as well as a sample of public opinion leaders (POLS) consisting of 800 respondents. n this occasion, the Centre is delighted to extend its thanks to all the organizations that have participated in making this poll successful and to all the respondents of both samples, from whom the information was collected. Thanks are also due to all those who have participated in giving success to this work inside and outside the University of Jordan.

The Centre hopes that the information provided by this poll would be useful to all those who are interested in the issues addressed thereby. However, researchers who wish to obtain further in-depth detailed analysis may use the detailed data available at the Centre.

OBJECTIVES

This poll follows four previous CSS polls: The first was conducted 18 months ago during the period 24–30 June 2000, the second during the period 2–7 October 2000 100 days after the formation of the Abu Ragheb the Government, the third during the period 7–14 January 2001 200 days after the formation of the Government, and the fourth poll during the period 22–27 June 2001 one year after the formation. The main objective of this series of polls is to determine the citizens’ opinions and reactions towards the Government’s performance since its formation on 19 June 2000.

The significance of the current poll emerges from the fact that it falls within the context followed by the Centre in the previous polls. Hence, the results are eligible for measuring the attitudes of the public vis-à-vis the ability of the Prime Minister and his Ministerial Team to shoulder the responsibilities of the current stage. Furthermore, developments in this respect may be observed by striking comparisons among the findings of the five polls.

This poll seeks to explore the citizens’ opinions on the Government’s performance vis-à-vis a number of social, political, economic and administrative issues, relating to the country's foreign debt, addressing the poverty and unemployment problems, combating corruption and expanding public liberties. The poll, however, focuses on evaluating the citizens’ appraisals of certain the governmental procedures. Thus, the respondents were canvassed about the degree to which the Government's foreign policy in general has been successful. This survey also includes the respondents’ opinions on the success of the Government in attracting more local, Arab and foreign investments, improving health services, developing the Aqaba region, replacing expatriate workers with Jordanian workers, and linking the outputs of education to job opportunities. It also addresses vocational training for the youth, as well as other topics.

SAMPLE DESIGN

I. National Sample

This survey utilizes the "cluster tier" observation approach in two stages. It relies on the framework of the General Census executed by the Department of General Statistics in 1994. The kingdom was divided into tiers, each representing the rural and urban areas of each of the kingdom’s governorates. Furthermore, each of the country's five main cities Amman, Wadi Seir, Zarqa, Ruseifa and Irbid was taken as an independent tier. The Kingdom was then divided into clusters, each containing an average of 80 families. The 1994 Census provided detailed information on each cluster, in terms of the number of families and houses. In addition, a map showed the location of each house in the cluster.

A sample was drawn from the clusters in each tier by using an approach of observation in proportion to the size of the cluster, whereby the number of families in each cluster was considered to be the size of the said cluster. To secure the distribution of the initial observation units the clusters over the various regions, the clusters were arranged inside each class progressively according to the number of families inside each cluster. The clusters’ geographical distribution was taken into consideration in order to guarantee the distribution of the sample over the various social regions, and of the various sizes of clusters. Following the arrangement of the clusters in the framework, a sample proportionate to the size was systematically drawn.

As regards the distribution of the sample among the tiers, the survey used a distribution approach proportionate to the number of families, in a bid to approximate the self-weighted sample approach. This enabled comparisons with the previous surveys in this field. A minor adjustment was made to the distribution of the sample among the tiers, for the purpose of ensuring the existence of a minimum number of clusters from each governorate in the sample. This took into consideration any expected variance in each tier by benefiting from the results of the previous surveys in this area.