Democratic Practices and its Features as Perceived by An-Najah and Birzeit University Student and the Extent of its Influence by the Demographic Variables

The study aimed at identifying to what extent the democratic practices and its features are affected by demographic variables as perceived by An- Najah and Birzeit university students. The study question: to what extent is the democratic practices and its features in An-Najah and Birzeit affected by demographic variables as perceived by the students. The study hypothesis: There are no significant statistical differences at (α= 0.05) in the level of democratic practices and its features as perceived by An-Najah and Birzeit universities students due to university, gender, student's academic year, father's academic a qualification, mother's academic a qualification variables. The population of the study consisted of all students of An-Najah and Birzeit. A stratified random sample was down, the size of the sample was (900) students out 01which (773) students responded to the questionnaire. In other words the sample constitutes (6.6%) out of the entire population. The researcher developed a questionnaire based on Watfa and Shera' (2000)in Kuwait. The validity of the instrument was approved by twelve Ph.D. holders in An-Najah university. The instrument proved to be reliable by using Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient which value was (0.82). The study revealed the following results: 1. The level of the overall effectiveness of the democratic practices was medium. The respondents arthematic mean was to (3.11). 2. There were statistical significant differences at (α = 0.05) in the level of democratic practices and its features in both An-Najah and Birzeit university, in favor of An-Najah university. 3. There were no statistical significant differences (α = 0.05) in the level of democratic practices and its features as perceived by students of An- Najah and Birzeit universities due the gender variable. 4. There were no statistical significant differences (α = 0.05) in the level of democratic practices and its features as perceived by students of An- Najah and Birzeit universities due to the academic level variable. 5. There are statistical significant differences (α = 0.05) in the level of democratic practices and its features as perceived by students of An- Najah and Birzeit students due to the father's academic qualification variable in favor of those who were university graduates. 6. There were no statistical significant differences (α = 0.05) in the level of democratic practices and its features as perceived by students of An- Najah and Birzeit universities students due to the mother's academic qualification variable. In the light of the finding: furthers studies should be conducted about the democratic practices of Palestinians universities. More deep studies should be conducted about the nature of An-Najah and Birzeit university academic life, students and their democratic practices and difficulties.