The Good Participation Project is a study of young people’s civic and political participation in a digital age. The Good Participation research team is conducting in depth interviews with youth who are members or leaders of organized groups focused on a social issue (such as the environment) or politics (such as Young Democrats and Republicans). We are exploring the conceptions of citizenship held by these young people and the place of new media therein; the practices and activities through which they enact their conceptions of citizenship; and the various social contexts—ranging from formal organizations to loose networks—through which they engage civically or politically.

Our interviews feature person-centered questions and hypothetical scenarios designed to elicit accounts of participants’ beliefs, values, goals, and personal theories of change; experiences in the civic-political realm—with special attention to those which sustain vs. hamper civic-political commitments; the presence/absence of role models or mentors; and features of the contexts in which they engage—including those which are explicitly civic or political in nature as well as friendship- and interest-oriented spaces.

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