An Examination of Undergraduate Civic Engagement Participation, Political Beliefs and Party Affiliation

Abstract

This is a descriptive study of students' political affiliation and ideology and their level of involvement in civic engagement activities. The study was created based on research on the rise in student volunteerism and the renewal of civic education in higher education with a backdrop of a politically liberal-leaning postsecondary faculty. The instrument is a locally developed survey which was distributed to a random sample of University of Maryland, College Park students, with 347 valid responses collected. Analyses utilized frequencies and percentages. The three null hypotheses were all partially rejected. This study is meant to be the beginning of a larger body of work examining any potential relationship between students' political affiliation and ideology and their levels of involvement in civic engagement activities.