Political Engagement Project (PEP), 2003-2005 [United States]

Resource Information

The work Political Engagement Project (PEP), 2003-2005 [United States] represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Bates College. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Political Engagement Project (PEP), 2003-2005 [United States]

Creator

• Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor]
• Beaumont, Elizabeth

Contributor

• Ehrlich, Thomas
• Colby, Anne

Author

• Beaumont, Elizabeth
• Colby, Anne
• Ehrlich, Thomas

Contributor

• Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor]

Subject

• civic engagement
• civics
• community participation
• higher education
• political ideologies
• political participation
• politics
• Education, Higher
• social identity
• survey
• teaching methods
• undergraduate programs
• public policy
• Group identity
• Political participation
• Political planning
• Political science
• Politics, Practical

Genre

• survey

Summary

The Political Engagement Project (PEP), 2003-2005 [United States] collection includes data that was collected as part of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Political Engagement Project. PEP was conducted to study the effects of a number of promising educational approaches that were designed to support political development. PEP data describe and assess the impact of 21 undergraduate courses and co- or extra-curricular programs in the United States designed to foster informed political engagement. Outcome for PEP interventions were measured in four central dimensions of political engagement: knowledge and understanding, skills, motivation, and action. Political engagement was broadly defined to include a wide range of democratic involvement, including not only voting and electoral participation, but also many types of non-electoral or nonconventional activities, from informal political discussions, to involvement in community problem-solving, to boycotts, protests, and other efforts to influence political decisions or policies at any level. PEP survey instruments also included variables to explore students' political party identifications and self-descriptions to determine if these were impacted by the PEP interventions. The courses and programs included in the study were located at a diverse set of institutions across the country and drew a wide range of students, including many racial/ethnic minorities and first generation college students. The data document the course and program goals and pedagogies, students' perspectives on their experiences in the program, and the impact of these experiences on key dimensions of political development such as knowledge, sense of political efficacy and identity, and skills of democratic participation. Students completed a survey before and after each course or program, and a small number of students from each were interviewed in depth. The faculty leaders were also interviewed and completed a survey, as well as participating in two in-depth conferences. The student survey and other research instruments were designed to document and examine course and program goals, particular approaches to teaching and learning, student perspectives on their experiences, and the impact of these experiences on students' political learning and engagement. To that end, the survey includes a number of questions from existing national surveys that can be used to compare students to other populations, as well as many new questions the research team developed to help identify and understand students' experiences and outlooks with greater specificity and nuance. This collection includes the following demographic variables: year in school, academic major, employment status, living environment, sex, race, age category, religion, citizenship, country of birth, parental country of origin, and parental education level