Analyzing the Role of Political Knowledge in Political Participation Through a Sociological Lens: A Quantitative Approach

Abstract

Individuals' participation in politics is subject to political knowledge and awareness. The study aims to learn about the relationship and association between political knowledge and political participation.  To investigate the phenomenon, the researcher adopts a quantitative research method and a cross-sectional research design to collect and analyze the data.  Data was collected through a simple random sample from a sample size of 381 at Punjab University. A structured questionnaire was constructed to collect the data from the respondents. We used simple frequency and percentage to look at the data at the univariate level. Chi-square tests and Kendall's Tau-b tests were used at the bivariate and multivariate levels to find out how the study variables were related and in what direction they were related. The result at the bivariate level indicates that all the items of political knowledge were significantly (p = 0.000) and positively associated with political participation. At the multivariate level, there was a strong (p = 0.000) and positive (T^b =.952) spurious link between political knowledge and political participation based on gender (male and female). There was also a strong (p = 0.000) and positive (T^b =.952) spurious link between political knowledge and political participation based on level of education (BS and MPhil).