Political News Awareness through Online Media from the Perspective of Political Science Students at Surindra Rajabhat University

Abstract

This research aims to 1) study the level of political news awareness through online media from the perspective of political science students at Surindra Rajabhat University, 2) compare the political news awareness through online media from the perspective of political science students at Surindra Rajabhat University, classified by personal factors, and 3) propose guidelines for improving political news awareness through online media from the perspective of political science students at Surindra Rajabhat University. The research uses a quantitative approach. The sample consists of 91 political science students from Surindra Rajabhat University, selected through multi-stage sampling. A questionnaire was used for data collection, with a reliability coefficient of 0.848. The statistics used for analysis include frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation, t-test, and F-test (One-way ANOVA). If statistically significant differences are found, pairwise comparisons are conducted using Fisher's Least Significant Difference (LSD) method. The level of statistical significance for this analysis is set at 0.05. The research findings revealed that

1. The level of political news awareness through online media from the perspective of political science students at Surindra Rajabhat University. The majority of the respondents were female, with 66 students, accounting for 72.5%. Most of them were aged between 19 and 20 years, with 51 students, accounting for 56.0%. The majority were first-year students, with 38 students, accounting for 41.8%, and most had an average monthly income of less than 3,000 baht, with 50 students, accounting for 54.9%, respectively. The overall political news awareness through online media from the perspective of political science students at Surindra Rajabhat University had a high mean score (= 3.99, S.D. = 0.516). When considering individual aspects, it was found that three aspects had high mean scores, ranked from highest to lowest as follows: political news awareness ( = 4.14, S.D. = 0.499), political participation through online media ( = 3.99, S.D. = 0.613), and channels for political news awareness ( = 3.85, S.D. = 0.638).
2. The comparison of political news awareness through online media from the perspective of political science students at Surindra Rajabhat University, classified by personal factors, found that students of different genders had no overall difference in their level of political news awareness through online media. Therefore, the hypothesis was rejected. Students of different ages also showed no overall difference in their level of political news awareness through online media, leading to the rejection of the hypothesis. Similarly, students of different academic years showed no overall difference in their level of political news awareness through online media, so the hypothesis was rejected. Students with different monthly incomes also showed no overall difference in their level of political news awareness through online media, resulting in the rejection of the hypothesis.
3. The guidelines for improving political news awareness through online media from the perspective of political science students at Surindra Rajabhat University, when analyzed by aspect, found that in the area of political news awareness through online media, 29.17% of the respondents suggested that proper methods of consuming political news should be promoted. In terms of political participation through online media, 28.58% of the respondents suggested that online elections should be held in the future to reduce costs. Lastly, for the channels used to access political news through online media, 50.0% of the respondents recommended that guidelines for filtering information before posting it online should be provided.