What is Good Citizenship?
A Quick Summary
In recent years, the American political culture has become increasingly polarized. Â While political differences exist in every democratic country, many political theorists warn that highly polarized views can lead to the collapse of democratic institutions and norms. Â
What can be done to stop such a collapse? Â One thing may be the American Citizens themselves. Â A good citizenry is considered one of the most important factors of a healthy democracy. Â Americans are routinely called to be good citizens. Â However, what does that mean? Â Many philosophers, political theorists, and politicians have given various views of good citizenship, but which of those views do the American people agree with? Â What do American citizens believe good citizenship is?Â
To answer that question I created a Survey of 28 questions. Â
The questions asked participants to choose both political and social aspects they believed were a part of being a good citizen.  Questions ranged from identifying the actions of a good citizen, to the educational aspect of good citizenship, to having the participants reflect on the citizenship of themselves, friends, and family. This website contains the data collected from the survey and my interpretations of that data.
What is Good Citizenship? Video
The Data
So You Can See the Numbers
You will see an option that says "Other" in the results. In order to keep the data compact on the website, and to avoid even the chance of breaching someone's privacy, I have decided not to include them on this website.
To Keep In mind...
336 people took the survey. This is an adequate sample size from which solid conclusions about the American population can be drawn (95% Confidence, 5.5% Margin of Error). However, it is important to understand some of the possible shortfalls of the survey...
The survey was distributed online, through my own social networks and connections. Therefore, a majority of participants are from the Midwestern Region, specifically Dane county, Wisconsin.
A second point to keep in mind is that a voluntary survey about Good Citizenship likely attracts participants who are more active and involved in their community and politics. The survey probably lacks answers from citizens that do not value participation or sharing of opinions very highly. However, active citizens have greater impact on politics and the nation. Therefore, the survey is still valid in finding commonality among the relevant citizenry.
Third, the survey questions were very subjective. The questions asked participants about their own views on a trait that is not clearly defined. People's chose options almost entirely based on their opinions.
Furthermore, this survey was never formally reviewed by any Institutional Review Boards. Aside from some guidance from professors and friends, the survey was created entirely by myself. So, this is not the most rigorous research and the results should not be considered absolute fact.
Questions? Email me!
I hope you enjoyed reviewing my project - please contact me if you want to learn more. I’d love to hear from you!
