Citizen Now: Engaging in Politics and Democracy by Elizabeth C Matto

Author:Elizabeth C Matto [Matto, Elizabeth C]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Democracy, Political Ideologies, Civics & Citizenship, Civil Rights, Political Science, Political Process, General
ISBN: 9781526105677
Google: iG65DwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 34434555
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 2017-07-24T00:00:00+00:00

Studying youth engagement: methodologies

Theoretical frameworks do more than shape our explanation of a phenomenon – they also play a role in determining the way in which we study it. A research design serves as a researcher’s plan for the methodology he or she will utilize to address those questions still in need of an answer. Methods come in all shapes and sizes and include experiments, observation, survey research, secondary data analysis, and qualitative methods (Frankfort-Nachmias and Nachmias 1992). As stated earlier, despite the varying opinions on the health of young adults’ political participation, a fairly uniform approach has been pursued when studying youth political participation. This is due most likely to the generational angle used by many of the scholars considering the subject. As this section makes clear, although the methods commonly used have great value, there are drawbacks to considering youth political participation through a narrow methodological lens. Moreover, the need for new theory to explain today’s young people, or “citizen now,” necessitates the use of new means of cultivating that theory.

Although it may seem counter-intuitive, research regarding political participation does not necessarily need to have behavior or activity as its primary point of focus. Instead, scholars can focus on those settings or contexts in which political activity often occurs (Brady 1999). For example, scholars could focus upon institutions such as trade associations and membership groups in which citizens often practice their political skills and utilize these skills when petitioning the government. Such an approach allows the researcher to identify potential locations for political action (1999, 743). Or the focus of study might be on issues or problems that prompt political action – gathering information about one’s concerns and then enumerating the political actions one has taken to address these concerns.

As Brady points out, scholars frequently use a combination of approaches but the most popular by far is the political action approach. This certainly has been the case when it comes to the study of youth political participation. To be sure, there are exceptions here and there. For example, Putnam includes a number of measures of group membership in his indicators of engagement including union membership and holding a leadership position in a local organization (2000, 248–257). In this way, Putnam’s work does employ an institutional as well a “political activity” approach. Putnam also includes measures of social trust and interest and attention to politics. The combination of looking at youth engagement through a generational lens and making their behavior the object of study has resulted in heavy use of survey research – this certainly has been the case with those scholars on the “disengaged” to “better engaged” continuum.

The methodologies used by scholars such as Putnam, Wattenberg, and Twenge center on secondary analysis of survey research and is reflective of their theoretical outlook. Given that Putnam’s research question centers on generational effects on civic and political behavior, it is critical that he utilizes longitudinal data – data that measure the same sort of information (such as attendance at public meetings or contacting elected officials) over several points in time.

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