A Panel Study of Social and Political Engagement Among University Students in Hong Kong

With the increasing number of student-led social movements around the world, it is becoming increasingly evident that there is a pressing need to better understand the social and political participation (collectively referred to as civic participation) of our younger generations. The call to action has possibly never held more weight than it does now, especially following the recent events of “Occupy Central” in Hong Kong, a largescale demonstration movement which, if anything, seemed to convey the growing trend of youth involvement in civic life. However, most local studies on youth civic participation define participation narrowly, often either focusing on volunteering or political participation, rather than auditing both forms of participation. Moreover, most of these studies offer a ‘snapshot’ of youth participation in society, rather than a longitudinal outlook of the casual relationships that explain civic engagement, as well as conditions relating to the changes or stability of different forms of social and political engagement over time. Hence, the current study aims to examine the developmental patterns of civic engagement among university students in Hong Kong. More specifically, using Klandermans and Oegema’s Action mobilization process model (1987), the study investigates the dynamics of civic participation, as taken in their own rights and viewed as part of an empirically-analyzed profile, over a period of time in Hong Kong. A mixed-methods longitudinal research design will be adopted, with the primary methods of data collection being self-reported e-surveys and follow-up in-depth interviews. The quantitative and qualitative components of the panel study would be collected in two waves, whereby the aim of the in-depth interviews would be to elucidate key dimensions of the causal relationships found in the results from the e-surveys. The study will use multi-stage probabilistic sampling approaches to recruit university students from all eight UGC-funded universities to join this panel study. The expected sample is 800 students, with 60-80 of them involved as a subsample in the in-depth interviews. Analyzing the quantitative data through clustering techniques and panel regression analyses, and qualitative data through thematic analysis of interviewee’s experiences and subjectivities, it is hoped that we can empirically test the process model for its validity in explaining the various patterns of civic engagement in the Hong Kong context.  It is hoped that advancing this line of inquiry would enable us to achieve a deeper understanding of the changing landscapes and heterogeneous nature of civic engagement among our youth.