Social Networks and Political Participation: A case of Pathumthani Province

Abstract

        The study of social networks and political participation for the case of Pathumthani province intended to study the levels of opinion regarding the social interaction on the political participation and the comparison of political involvement differentiated by personal characteristics, namely gender, marital status, education levels and age groups. A sample of 385 respondents were purposely selected. The tool of the study was questionnaire. The findings presentation was descriptive and t-test and F-test for statistical inference.

        The survey results revealed that the majority of respondents were female, were married, attained the bachelor degrees or equivalent, the ages were 31-40 years. When asked the levels of social media usage, the responses were high, averaging 3.57 (SD.=0.55) in all platforms. Specifically, Line chatting was preferred most, mean value 3.64 (SD.=0.69), followed by Facebook VDO upload. Respondents were asked their involvement in political participation the feedbacks were high in all categories. The highest average score was political campaign, the mean score was 4.82 (SD.=0.72), followed by political election, the mean score 3.74 (SD.=0.64). Usage of social networks and political participation of respondents based on their personal characteristics, the test results were not statistical different at the level of .05.