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Youth Political Participation: Sample of Sirnak
JOURNAL OF YOUTH RESEARCHES
young people who do not take this lesson and the ones who take it. In addition, partici-
pation to voluntary activities or membership to organizations engaged studies for youth
are expected to make a meaningful difference in terms of political participation (Neundorf
and Smets, 2015:8-9; Flanagan and Faison, 2001:11). It is also seen that the percep-
tions of political participation of young boys are more developed than young girls (Eccles
and Barber, 1999: 16-18; Gordon, 2008:32). Finally, membership experiences in political
youth organizations (e.g., service organizations, student council, drama clubs, musical
groups, and religious organizations) have significant and positive effects on political par-
ticipation of youth. These voluntary actions and organizations may create new political
participation types (Farthing, 2010: 191).
The hypotheses of this study are given below:
H1: There is no significant difference between the tendencies of political participa-
tion of young people according to their educational field.
H2: There is no significant difference between the tendencies of political participa-
tion of young people according to their gender.
H3: There is no significant difference between the tendencies of political participa-
tion of young people according to their membership to organizations engaged in
activities related to youth.
H4: There is no significant difference between the tendencies of political participa-
tion of young people according to their age.
1. Methodology
In this research, quantitative research methods have been applied to determine the di-
mensions of political participation for young people aged between 14 and 19 in Şırnak
City Center in the last quarter of 2015 and also it has been endeavored to determine
whether young people’s demographic properties (gender, age and education fields) and
their membership to organizations engaged in activities related to youth constitutes a
significant difference on their political participation. The data used in the analysis were
collected by applying survey technique. Ryan’s (1995) model was used to determine the
sample size in the study in which the random sampling method was used. In the last quar-
ter of 2015, there are a total of 1789 high school students in Şırnak Multi-Programmed
High School between 14-19 years of age. The young people in 9th and 10th grade class-
es were excluded from the survey because their educational field has not been specified.
It is found that 379 pieces of data are adequate for research analysis when Ryan’s formula
is applied to determine the number of samples to represent the total young people in 14-
19 age group at Şırnak City Center. In order to increase the validity and reliability of the
study, 700 questionaire forms were filled by young people who are at 11th and 12th grade
classes with the help of their teachers between the dates of 2-16 November 2015. 502
valid return was provided.
