Civic Engagement Case Study

This study seeks to explain if mobilization efforts result in high level of civic engagement. The researcher conduct a comparative case study that examines the political participation at St. Olaf and Carleton. The study, however presents a weak qualitative research due to several issues. The first major concern is the lack of transparency. Although the researcher claims that the evidence strongly support his hypothesis, I believe that there was not enough evidence to support his claim based from how the research was conducted. There are multiple independent variables and the schools were observed differently. For St. Olaf College, the researcher selected the Election Day as the independent variable and concluded that there was a high level of

Given the evidence that was provided, I believe claim should not be made only from the turnout and the political knowledge demonstrated by the students at the meetings. My concern with this observation is the sample selection and if the selection was biased. How did the researcher distinguished between political science and non-political science major? Students that major in political science will have higher political knowledge, and therefore are more likely to attend the meetings. An effective strategy would be to observe the meetings and events hosted by the different organizations throughout the semester or the school year. Thus, it is also important to observe the events because it allows the researcher to see the level of attendance of the non-members. This strategy is more effective because there is a wider range of participants with different political knowledge and background. Additionally, the non-members are the key factors that will determines if the organizations successfully influence students to participate in