The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services ("NJDHSS") is interested in assessing state residents' views on important health issues as part of the Healthy New Jersey 2010 planning process. To obtain this information, NJDHSS commissioned the Eagleton Institute's Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University to conduct a statewide survey of New Jersey residents.

The specific issues addressed by this study include:

• "Top-of-mind" identification of most important health issues in New Jersey;

• Public perceptions of importance on 12 health issues identified by NJDHSS; and

• Role of different entities in addressing the most important health issue.

The questionnaire for this study was developed by Eagleton in consultation with NJDHSS. Most of the questions are based on a similar poll conducted by Eagleton for NJDHSS in 1991. The draft questionnaire was pretested and modifications were made to the survey instrument. The final version of the questionnaire is included in Appendix A.

The survey involved telephone interviews conducted between May 4 and 11, 1999 with a random probability sample of 804 New Jersey residents 18 years old and older. Percentages for the total sample of 804 have a sampling error of +/-3.5 percent at a 95 percent confidence level with 50/50 proportions. Sampling error is the probability difference in results between interviewing everyone in a population versus interviewing a scientific sample taken from that population. In other words, if 50 percent of a sample of 804 agree with a particular statement, the margin of agreement within the total population is between 46.5 percent and 53.5 percent.

Sampling error increases as the sample size becomes smaller, as for groups within the population. For example with racial/ethnic groups such as black or Hispanic residents with sample sizes of 100 or smaller the relevant margin of error is upwards of +/-10%. This statistical relationship should be kept in mind when comparing the results among population groups.

Sampling error does not take into account any other possible sources of error inherent in any study of public opinion. A more comprehensive description of the research methodology is included in Appendix B.

This descriptive report is designed to provide an overview of the key findings from the research and a road map to the data produced from the survey. Following this introductory chapter is a summary of the survey findings. The descriptive text is followed by statistical tables. In most cases the percentages on the tables read from left to right with the total equal to 100 percent. In instances where there is statistical rounding, the total may be more or less than 100 percent. The table will also report the "(n)" for each group referenced on the table. The "n" is the actual number of people in the group the percentages are based on. Readers should be aware of the "(n)" when referencing the percentages on a table. Smaller sub-groups will have a higher margin of sampling error. Therefore, in some cases what may appear to be a large difference between groups is a result of the larger sampling error and may not be statistically significant. The descriptive text will discuss only those findings which are statistically significant.

The title of the table summarizes the actual question that was asked. After the title is a "(Q)" designation that identifies the specific question number on the questionnaire to which the percentages refer. Readers are encouraged to use the questionnaire in Appendix A if they want to review the exact question wording.

Following the descriptive text and tables, there are four appendices. Appendix A has the text of the questions used in the survey as well as the demographic and other questions used in the analysis of the data. Appendix B provides additional information about the survey methodology so interested readers may have a better understanding of the process used to obtain the data. A demographic profile of survey participants is in Appendix C.

At Eagleton, the study was conducted by Janice Ballou, Director, and Patrick Murray, Senior Research Analyst. For NJDHSS, Marilyn Dahl and Ruth Charbonneau provided guidance for the project. The report and the interpretation of the survey findings are the sole responsibility of the Center for Public Interest Polling, the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers the State University of New Jersey.