Survey

Major League Baseball faces an uncertain future. More labor strife is on the horizon. Television revenues are soon to decline. The commissioner's office remains unoccupied. The sport is in a state of economic and political upheaval.It is against this backdrop that the owners last year initiated a market research project to determine if the traditional format of the game is in need of an overhaul.* How would you like to see the two leagues split into three divisions each instead of two and the playoffs expanded to include a wild-card team and an extra tier of games?

SHANGHAI, China -- Judging from Liu Dalin's groundbreakin survey on the procreative habits of his 1.1 billion compatriots, most Chinese know very little about sex.Mr. Liu is a gentle, scholarly man whose 844-page "Sexual Behavior in Modern China: A Nationwide Survey on 20,000 Subjects" may have broken the ice, initiating a franker approach to a subject never discussed publicly here.In a country where the state has never been generous to academics, the sociologist and his friends went hat in hand to government offices and state-owned companies for funds for his two-year survey.

Marijuana and cigarette use is rising among Maryland's high school seniors, and alcohol consumption remains high, despite extensive drug education, according to a state Department of Education survey released yesterday.Although drinking among 12th-graders dropped slightly since the last survey in 1994, more than half of the seniors polled in December said they had consumed alcohol at least three times during the previous 30 days. More than a third said they had consumed five or more drinks on one occasion during that period.

CHICAGO -- In a reflection of the fear and emotion associated with the AIDS epidemic, many Americans remain afraid to work with someone infected with the AIDS virus even while acknowledging that the workplace poses virtually no risk of transmission.AIDS education efforts help somewhat, concluded a survey of workers that appears in the February issue of the American Journal of Public Health. For instance, employees who knew that the AIDS-causing HIV virus is not transmitted through casual contact were less likely to hold negative views about co-workers with AIDS.

The Baltimore and Maryland job markets will deteriorate in the first quarter of next year, with more employers planning to reduce their staff than those planning to hire, a new survey shows.In Baltimore, only 5 percent of the employers surveyed by Manpower Inc., an international temporary employment firm, said they planned to increase their work force next quarter, while 16 percent said they would cut back.The statewide employment picture was a bit less negative. Of about 1,760 employers questioned over the telephone, 17 percent planned a decrease in staffing and 12 percent planned to hire.

CUSTOMER satisfaction is as important for schools as for any enterprise. Howard County schools deserve praise for conducting a new survey that reveals what parents, students and teachers think of the system.Most participants in the survey were satisfied. About 86 percent said Howard schools "promote creativity, responsible risk-taking, cooperation, mutual trust and respect." Shortcomings pointed out by the survey were known. But reiterating these problems should spark efforts to address them.

Student satisfaction with the Naval Academy is at a five-year low, and strain between male and female midshipmen is on the rise, according to an annual survey released yesterday by the military college. The survey findings follow a tumultuous year that saw the resignation of an embattled superintendent, the demotion of a professor accused of plagiarism, and several high-profile allegations of sexual assault. Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt, the academy superintendent, told the school's oversight board yesterday that he believed the school was generally on the right track.

"Stability" was the term of art last year for North American art museums, as they maintained or built on advances made over the prior two years, according to a new survey. The New York-based Association of Art Museum Directors said Wednesday that 73 percent of the 129 museums responding to its survey reported steady or increased attendance in 2005. That compared with 70 percent seeing such results in 2004. The survey also found that 84 percent of respondents said their total revenue had increased or was the same as in the prior previous year, up from 79 percent in 2004.

Many students and parents in Anne Arundel County's middle and high schools do not believe a new student conduct code is enforced consistently, according to preliminary data from an online survey. The code, which was adopted by the school board in May and implemented in September, standardizes punishment for violations at all county schools. Administrators are in the process of revising the code and plan to take into consideration the survey results. An analysis of responses from an online survey of more than 950 parents, teachers, administrators and students indicates that most feel safe at school: 89 percent at the elementary school level, 78 percent at middle, and 73 percent at high school.

Users of the Maryland Transit Administration's Mobility vans and taxis for the disabled give the service significantly higher ratings than they did three years ago, according to a survey the MTA plans to release today. According to the survey, 86 percent of Mobility users described the service as either "very good" or "excellent" this year, compared with 56 percent in 2003. The numbers of riders calling the service either "fair" or "poor" fell from 27 percent three years ago to 9 percent this year.