Ana Isabel Pontes | The University of Nottingham (original) (raw)
Papers by Ana Isabel Pontes
Disenchantment with politics and low electoral turnout does not mean young people are not engaged... more Disenchantment with politics and low electoral turnout does not mean young people are not engaged with politics. However, our understanding of what being 'politically engaged' entails is somewhat challenged by the lack of consensus concerning the definition of this particular concept. Furthermore, existing conceptualizations of political engagement and participation (offline and online) often center on a limited set of political action items, failing to realize that a person can be politically engaged but not participate in political actions. Despite attempts to understand how young people themselves define politics, there are insufficient youth specific explanations of what being politically engaged means. In the present study, focus groups including young people (18-24 years) were conducted to examine understandings of political engagement. Participants were also asked to group a set of items they considered most accurately assessed this construct. Using the results, a conceptualization is proposed taking into account young people's definitions of political engagement; this suggests that young people consider political engagement to have emotional and cognitive dimensions but also to be conceptually distinct from political participation.
| Over the past few decades, there has been an increasing interest in understanding youth politic... more | Over the past few decades, there has been an increasing interest in understanding youth political engagement. However, it has been argued that the instruments used to assess the concept often lack adequate validation, and this is important as this practice may result in biased statistical conclusions. Consequently, the main aim of the present study was to systematically review, summarize, and critique the extant research evidence on the development of psychometric instruments that assess young people's political engagement. Following a systematic review of the literature, seven instruments were identified that were both valid and reliable, but none explicitly assessed young people's political engagement. Instead, they considered broad concepts and/or dimensions related to political engagement. Emphasising the lack of statistically robust standardised measurement tools that empirically assess young people's political engagement, the available evidence confirms the pressing need to adopt a robust psychometric approach to assess political engagement in youth.
Over the last decade, there has been an ever increasing number of citizens using online media to ... more Over the last decade, there has been an ever increasing number of citizens using online media to participate in and engage with politics. Social media sites and online blogs have enabled new opportunities for interactive and user-centered political experiences. Currently, there is a general scarcity of psychometrically validated and standardized instruments that assess politically-related constructs (e.g., political engagement, political participation) in the field of political sciences. The main aim of the present study was to develop a standardized psychometric tool to assess online political engagement among the general population that is valid and reliable. The present study examined the psychometric properties of a 7-item Online Political Engagement Scale (OPEnS) that assesses various online political actions people engage with during election campaigns. To develop the scale, data from the 2010 British Election Survey were used, and a total of 3,075 people participated in an online survey, post-election. The main findings obtained in the present study supported the undimensionality of the online political engagement construct given the results obtained from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The OPEnS appears to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing this phenomenon, and may be useful in studies investigating newer patterns of online political engagement and disengagement.
Young people’s relationship with British politics has been the subject of considerable scrutiny. ... more Young people’s relationship with British politics has been the subject of considerable scrutiny. Research appears to indicate that in Britain, many young people are refraining from engaging in the formal political process and are increasingly turning their backs on democratic institutions. However, research also suggests that once young people are invited to discuss politics in their own terms, there is evidence of much higher levels of interest and activity. The present paper examines whether citizenship education can help youth become more politically engaged. More specifically it examines the impact of citizenship studies classes on youth political engagement as well as an understanding of how they experience such classes at school. It is concluded that extending the study of citizenship within the school/college curriculum and ensuring that this is given a distinct and prominent status might assist with the process of improving political literacy skills to help young people re-connect with democratic life in an informed, critical, confident and effective manner.
Disenchantment with politics and low electoral turnout does not mean young people are not engaged... more Disenchantment with politics and low electoral turnout does not mean young people are not engaged with politics. However, our understanding of what being 'politically engaged' entails is somewhat challenged by the lack of consensus concerning the definition of this particular concept. Furthermore, existing conceptualizations of political engagement and participation (offline and online) often center on a limited set of political action items, failing to realize that a person can be politically engaged but not participate in political actions. Despite attempts to understand how young people themselves define politics, there are insufficient youth specific explanations of what being politically engaged means. In the present study, focus groups including young people (18-24 years) were conducted to examine understandings of political engagement. Participants were also asked to group a set of items they considered most accurately assessed this construct. Using the results, a conceptualization is proposed taking into account young people's definitions of political engagement; this suggests that young people consider political engagement to have emotional and cognitive dimensions but also to be conceptually distinct from political participation.
| Over the past few decades, there has been an increasing interest in understanding youth politic... more | Over the past few decades, there has been an increasing interest in understanding youth political engagement. However, it has been argued that the instruments used to assess the concept often lack adequate validation, and this is important as this practice may result in biased statistical conclusions. Consequently, the main aim of the present study was to systematically review, summarize, and critique the extant research evidence on the development of psychometric instruments that assess young people's political engagement. Following a systematic review of the literature, seven instruments were identified that were both valid and reliable, but none explicitly assessed young people's political engagement. Instead, they considered broad concepts and/or dimensions related to political engagement. Emphasising the lack of statistically robust standardised measurement tools that empirically assess young people's political engagement, the available evidence confirms the pressing need to adopt a robust psychometric approach to assess political engagement in youth.
Over the last decade, there has been an ever increasing number of citizens using online media to ... more Over the last decade, there has been an ever increasing number of citizens using online media to participate in and engage with politics. Social media sites and online blogs have enabled new opportunities for interactive and user-centered political experiences. Currently, there is a general scarcity of psychometrically validated and standardized instruments that assess politically-related constructs (e.g., political engagement, political participation) in the field of political sciences. The main aim of the present study was to develop a standardized psychometric tool to assess online political engagement among the general population that is valid and reliable. The present study examined the psychometric properties of a 7-item Online Political Engagement Scale (OPEnS) that assesses various online political actions people engage with during election campaigns. To develop the scale, data from the 2010 British Election Survey were used, and a total of 3,075 people participated in an online survey, post-election. The main findings obtained in the present study supported the undimensionality of the online political engagement construct given the results obtained from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The OPEnS appears to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing this phenomenon, and may be useful in studies investigating newer patterns of online political engagement and disengagement.
Young people’s relationship with British politics has been the subject of considerable scrutiny. ... more Young people’s relationship with British politics has been the subject of considerable scrutiny. Research appears to indicate that in Britain, many young people are refraining from engaging in the formal political process and are increasingly turning their backs on democratic institutions. However, research also suggests that once young people are invited to discuss politics in their own terms, there is evidence of much higher levels of interest and activity. The present paper examines whether citizenship education can help youth become more politically engaged. More specifically it examines the impact of citizenship studies classes on youth political engagement as well as an understanding of how they experience such classes at school. It is concluded that extending the study of citizenship within the school/college curriculum and ensuring that this is given a distinct and prominent status might assist with the process of improving political literacy skills to help young people re-connect with democratic life in an informed, critical, confident and effective manner.