Introduction
Research background
The ISIS crisis is in its fourth year despite several efforts by the international community for reconciliation. It is necessary to establish the impression of the Emirati youths on the ISIS, since they are indirectly affected by the current military activities of the group in Syria and Iraq (Al-Jenabi, 2008, p. 15).
Therefore, this research proposal will attempt to establish the impressions of the Emirati youths on Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Research question and objectives
For this research proposal, the primary question is;
- What are the impressions of the Emirati youths on Islamic State in Iraq and Syria?
The objectives of this research are;
- To establish the perceptions of the Emirati youths on the ISIS group
- To make recommendations and suggestions on how to view and deal with ISIS
Importance of studying the topic
Understanding geo-political, social, and economic impressions held by the Emirati youths towards ISIS are important, especially when establishing the contribution of the group on the current Middle East conflict. Through sociological imagination, it is easy to understand behavior change and identify forces: positive or negative, that facilitate the angle of inclination among the Emirati youths towards the ISIS.
Methodology
Nature of the method
This research will be conducted using research survey study approach. Data, which will be collected through one-on-one interviews and questionnaires, will be scrutinized in detail. Through open-ended and closed-ended structure, each question asked will be comprehensive to ensure that respondents have opportunity to give deep answers that provide an insight into research problem solution.
Instances of divergent or convergent opinions by one or more respondents will be marked appropriately (George & Bennet, 2005, p. 29).
Strengths and weaknesses
Questionnaire
Based on the survey method, a self constructed five-item structured questionnaire will become imperative. The questionnaire will be prepared to use 5- point Likert scale (Miller, Mauthner, Birch, & Jessop, 2012, p. 42). The Saudi youths will express a broad range of opinions in the focus groups on the key issues in the discussion.
Strengths
Questionnaire provides anonymity to the user and thus gives more honest responses. Information can be gathered from a large number of people. Since the questions are uniform and if the conditions under which they are answered are controlled, then the information gathered is standardized (Miller et al. 2012, p. 43).
Weaknesses
It is not possible to explain to the respondents any point that they may misinterpret in a question. Giving a pilot test to a few respondents could partially solve this. It is possible for a respondent to be dishonest in case they do not feel comfortable (De-Rada, 2005, p. 66). To minimize any of the on the above weakness, the questionnaire design will use a simple language that is understood by both parties. The time for completion will be reasonable and designed to identify the target population so as to yield useful data for the research analysis and interpretation (Groves, Fowler, Coper, Lepkowski, Singer, & Tourangeau, 2009, p. 45).
Interviews
Adopting semi-structured, open-ended and closed-ended questions interview, data collection through a one-on-one interview is critical considering the scope of the research topic.
Strengths
The choice of one-on-one interview is based on the rationale of gaining insight on the feelings, opinion, and experiences. Moreover, the semi structured interviews are given room for further probe depending. The researcher is in a position to seek further clarification on specific ideas and responses given within the interview time. From responses gathered, one-on-one interview makes it easy to scribe clear responses that answer the questions asked (De-Rada, 2005, p. 68).
Weaknesses
The interview is tedious and time consuming. Interview findings may be biased if the interviewer and the interviewee do not read from the same page. The interview is expensive when the sample space is large (De-Rada, 2005, p. 69). Since the researcher is expected to accord the research project professional seriousness, the willing respondents are likely to reliable, credible, and informed responses to questions asked.
Appropriateness of using the method for study
The mixture of questionnaire and direct interview will present a number of pre-specified competencies and best practices based on the research topic. The researcher chose the qualitative because the scope of the research is focused, subjective, dynamic, and discovery oriented. Moreover, this approach will create room for further analysis using different and divergent tools for checking the degree of error and assumption limits (Groves et al. 2009, p. 57).
Data collection and stages of research
This research will target 100 Emirati youths (within the age group of 20-30 years) to establish the common perception towards ISIS. The sampling criterion that will be used in the initial sampling plan represents the true picture of the activities on the ground.
The collected quantitative data will be coded and passed through appropriate analysis tool. In the process, cross tabulation will be used to compare and contrast the impressions held by the Emirati youths. In order to quantify the relationship between the independent and dependent variable, analysis will be essential besides figures, charts, and tabular representation of correlation analysis (De-Rada, 2005, p. 65).
Validity, reliability, and generalization of results
This sample chosen for the survey presents a clear, scientific, and verifiable criterion for systematic analysis. Reflectively, this will permit comparative research especially when qualitative design is adopted to give room for testing accuracy and degree of biasness (Groves et al. 2009, p. 39).
The interviews will be conducted by the researcher because of common characteristics of culture, age, and country (George & Bennet, 2005, p. 33). The researcher will send the questionnaires to the targeted participants and schedule direct interview with those who are flexible and can afford a fifteen minutes break to answer the interview questions.
Ethical considerations
During the data collection phase of this study, the researcher will strive to uphold ethics appertaining to scientific research. This will be pursued through inclusion of an informed consent form in the interview and questionnaire, which the units being studied will be required to read understand and consent to before the study commences.
The researcher will ensure confidentiality of the subjects by insisting on their anonymity, where each subject will be identified using a unique code as opposed to use of names (Blaxter, Hughes, & Malcolm, 2005, p. 44).
Conclusion
The study will be carried out via research survey since the scope of the research is focused. Through qualitative research, the research will be in a position to carry out correlation analysis of the impressions held by the Emirati youths. The study would be more comprehensive if the impressions were directed towards a single variable.
References
Al-Jenabi, B. (2008). Use of social media in the United Arabs Emirates: An initial study. Global Media Journal, 1(2), 3-27.
Blaxter, L., Hughes, C., & Malcolm, T. (2005). How to research, Berkshire, UK: Open University Press.
De-Rada, V. (2005). Influences of questionnaire design on response to mail surveys. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 8(1), 61-78.
George, A., & Bennet, A. (2005). Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences: How to Do Case Studies. Massachusetts, Ma: MIT Press.
Groves, M., Fowler, J., Coper, P., Lepkowski, M., Singer, E., & Tourangeau, R. (2009). Survey Methodology. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Miller, T., Mauthner, M., Birch, M., & Jessop, J. (2012). Ethics in qualitative research. London, UK: SAGE Publications Limited.