Comparing Students’ Citizenship Concepts with Likert-Scale

Abstract

The main concern in this article has been to investigate whether Hong Kong students’ citizenship concepts changed over a 10 year period. Such a methodology based on analyzing responses to the Likert scale was chosen to (1) provide precise results that make valid and reliable conclusions and (2) demonstrate that while an underlying latent trait reflecting democratic values can be identified in the two cohorts of students studied, that the latent trait did undergo subtle changes. This was reflected in the movement (or lack of it) of items along the latent trait. What is known is that Hong Kong students 10 years after the return of Hong Kong to China have strong commitments to democracy: what are less certain about is exactly how this situation developed but perhaps more importantly in the light of the results of this study, how it can be sustained.

Appendix

Item no.	Item name
A1	When everyone has the right to express their opinions freely, that is
A2	When differences in income wealth between the rich poor are small, that is
A3	When political leaders in power give jobs in the government [public sector] to members of their family, that is
A4	When newspapers are free of all government [state, political] control, that is
A5	When private businesses have no restrictions from government, that is
A6	When one company owns all the newspapers, that is
A7	When people demand their political and social rights, that is
A8	When immigrants are expected to give up the language and customs of their former countries, that is
A9	When political parties have rules that support women to become political leaders, that is
A10	When people who are critical of the government are forbidden from speaking at public meetings that is
A11	When citizens have the right to elect political leaders freely, that is
A12	When courts and judges are influenced by politicians, that is
A13	When many different organisations [associations] are available [exist] for people who wish to belong to them, that is
A14	When there is a separation [segregation] between the church [institutional church] and the state [government], that is
A15	When young people have an obligation [are obliged] to participate in activities to benefit [help] the community [society], that is
A16	When a minimum income [living standard] is assured for everyone, that is
A17	When political parties have different opinions [positions] on important issues, that is
A18	When people participate in political parties in order to influence government, that is
A19	When laws that women claim are unfair to them are changed, that is
A20	When all the television stations present the same opinion about politics, that is
A21	When people refuse to obey a law which violates human rights, that is
A22	When newspapers are forbidden to publish stories that might offend ethnic groups [immigrant groups, racial groups, national groups], that is
A23	When wealthy business people have more influence on government than others, that is
A24	When government leaders are trusted without question, that is
A25	When people peacefully protest against a law they believe to be unjust, that is