Survey on Social Media and Youth Political Participation: Dataset on Indonesia & Pakistan

Youth is becoming the centre of attention among political debate in East and South Asia. The present study examined the role of youth in shaping the political structure and their political participation through social media. The public sphere is considered as an integral part of democracy; a social space in which citizens are able to engage in political activities pertinent to the public interest. However, nowadays it has become common among the public to discuss political matters in public places. This quantitative study is limited to Pakistan and Indonesia. The data were collected through a semi-structured interview schedule and a sample of 400 respondents was chosen for the purpose. The finding of this study suggests that youth has a significant role in political structure, they are frequently discussing political matters on the social media to sensitize the public and role of youth has changed the political scenario of both countries.青年正成为东亚与南亚政治辩论中的关注焦点。本研究考察了青年在塑造政治格局过程中所扮演的角色，及其通过社交媒体开展的政治参与行为。公共领域（public sphere）被视作民主不可或缺的组成部分，是公民可参与与公共利益相关政治活动的社会空间。然而，当下公众在公共场域讨论政治议题已成为常态。本定量研究的覆盖范围限定为巴基斯坦与印度尼西亚两国，研究数据通过半结构化访谈提纲（semi-structured interview schedule）收集，共选取400名受访者作为研究样本。本研究结果显示，青年在政治格局中发挥着重要作用：他们频繁借助社交媒体讨论政治议题以唤醒公众意识，且青年群体的参与已然重塑了两国的政治局面。