Sports Tourism in the UAE - Thesis Example

Research Methods Research method incorporated in this research proposal is of qualitative nature; open to interpretation as well as conclusive.The issues that will be the subject of qualitative research include the nature of impact of sports tourism measures that encourage women participation on UAE’s culture. The core reason for choosing qualitative method is because quantitative procedures will not be sufficient to completely analyze the research questions. Qualitative method studies things in their natural settings and interprets them accordingly and gives focus on values people attach to them (Lincoln, 2000, pg. 3). The great impact of qualitative research is the culturally precise and contextually rich data it yields (Mack, Woodsong, MacQueen, Guest & Namey, 2005). That is why this study needs to go in depths of UAE society and produce conclusive research. Dubai is progressing in leaps and bounds and the whole world considers it a hub of economic activity but when it comes to cultural values and participation of local women in regular ‘manly’ businesses, the world considers Arab women bound and deprived. The prevalent perception is that women are oppressed in these regions of the world and despite of all major business activity in UAE, people are still living in middle-ages regarding cultural norms where men call all the shots and women are only obedient servants. Despite the fact that strengths of foundation of UAE culture are evident and they play a major role in social dynamics of the country, dramatic changes are gaining grounds in UAE society (Peck, 1986). That is why qualitative methodology is so effective in this context that it addresses core issues from all significant angels. It includes social dynamics of UAE as well as various possibilities of impacts of sports tourism. Another factor that needs to be studied in this research is the administrative measures in this respect. The role of leadership is a deciding factor in this context. And according to Conger (1998), Alvesson (1996) and Bryman et al (1988), the advantages of qualitative approach in researching leadership role include; 1. Suppleness in addressing new ideas those come across during the research study. 2. Flexible adjustments according to the context. 3. The ability to deal with social norms and symbolism 4. More options in; a) Developing empirical held theories and concepts b) Thorough and longitudinal analysis of leadership (UAE Government and all administrative measures in this regards) c) More significance for people (the UAE society) involved What is a qualitative method?  According to Mack, Woodsong, MacQueen, Guest & Namey (2005) a qualitative research is a scientific method of research and comprises of the following features; Pursues the answer to a question Incorporates a set of predefined procedures Gathers data (evidence) Results or conclusions are not predefined Conclusions apply to the immediate research boundary as well as beyond it Other than these mentioned features, a qualitative research method tries to comprehend the problem or matter at hand from the people’s point of view and incorporates social values and dynamics that directly affect the research. Qualitative method is specifically useful for dealing with culturally specific researches and that is the reason why this method has been chosen for researching the impacts of sports tourism in UAE on female athletes and its cultural acceptance. What does the qualitative research require?  Qualitative research comprises of many features that are almost analogous to Quantitative research but a little more open to interpretation and debate. The general framework of Qualitative research involves pursuing the impact (implications) of the research question, in our case it is the implications of sports tourism. The phenomenon of this study is analyzed by taking into consideration the social dynamics of UAE and women’s (local) participation in sports. Mechanisms used in a qualitative study are flexible and open to interpretation. More elicit and interactive questions are posed. Semi-structured tools like in-depth interviews, focus groups and participant observation are used to reach a conclusion. From analytical perspective, qualitative research describes the variations. It highlights them instead of narrowing them down to a few probabilities (just like in quantitative study where variations are quantified). It also aims to describe relationships, individual experiences and group customs and it does so by asking open ended questions. Data format is textual collected through audio, video recording and field notes. Overall, the research is quite flexible and doesn’t escort the data to converge to a predetermined conclusion. Participants are free to answer which question they want to answer and their responses also control which question should be asked next. Research is also iterative, meaning that data collected and the questions asked are adjusted in the middle according to knowledge obtained during the research (Mack, Woodsong, MacQueen, Guest & Namey, 2005). Why is it the most suitable for this subject?  Qualitative methodology has been selected for this research for a variety of reasons. First reason is that the study is interpretative and open to debate. There is less rigidity in this methodology. The research revolves around impacts of UAE sports tourism on female participation in sports and social acceptance. To analyze such social impacts, quantitative study would never suffice. Such research needs a lot of in-depth questioning and observations. More interactive questions are needed for this research to have a comprehensive conclusion, and qualitative study does that. Moreover, semi-structured qualitative tools like in-depth interviews will be incorporated that are much needed to complete this research. This methodology suits the subject because it discusses the variations in detail. To actually gather the implications of sports tourism, is going to be exhaustive work and there will be many variations during the research. Rigid method such as the quantitative will not be much helpful. Open ended questions will be right tool to get the opinions and ideas from participants (which will include random people as well as some experts). Stratified sampling will be more helpful than ordinary sampling. As we need to find the opinions and impacts on both sides; the administration and the public. Audio recordings and field notes will be used for this purpose. Field reports are necessary as they will observe people, athletes and the way media will capture female sporting events in which local females will participate. Qualitative research is open to conclusion and doesn’t force the data collected to converge to a predetermined point and that is what‘s precisely required as the study can swing either ways; it can reveal more complications that UAE women are facing when they try to compete in sports, Or it can highlight positive impacts on UAE society where people are becoming more flexible in their home and societal norms. The athletes that will be interviewed in a completely comfortable environment where they would not feel any pressure answering questions about various responses that they has to face while taking an active part in sports. Moreover there comfort level will be closely observed so that hard questions could be avoided that can push them into an awkward situation. The last aspect that makes qualitative analysis best for the subject is the modification that researchers can do in the middle. If the study is shaping up well and clear conclusions can be derived then there would be no need to make any adjustments. However if there is a need felt during the study to change questions on the interview or change switch some participants (interviewees), then it would all help to make the research more useful. What are the limitations and benefits of using this method?  There are certain limitations that will be faced during this study. First and foremost is the time constraint. The second one is the scarcity of useful resources to actually capture sufficient data and opinions. Another huge constraint for this subject is that no prior research has been performed in this regard, which makes this research the only one of its kind. This makes the job more difficult and puts many limitations. All dependency will be on the interviews and the field data that will be collected during the research study. The most sought after benefit of Qualitative research methodology is the interview technique and questions. The qualitative research interview looks for describing and the meanings of essential themes in the life world of the subjects. The chief goal in interviewing is to understand the significance and meaning of what the interviewees have to say (Kvale, 1996). That is why it is very important to get behind the words and know the perception of peoples and how the UAE society accepts their girls taking part in sports. Who is the audience/population researched?  Because it is a social subject, random people on the street, students, athletes and their family members as well as some journalists (to get the insight about what they have to face when they publish stories about local females participating in sports) will be interviewed. Moreover, published material regarding sports tourism will also be consulted frequently to get a better structure of the report across the time line and the development of sports sector in UAE. Data Collection Methods Open ended questions will be used in detailed interviews. Interviews will be targeted mainly for local female athletes. Ethnographic research tool, participant observation will also be used to collect the data. First hand observation is most reliable. And people generally to many things contradictory to what they say, therefore it is better to research this subject utilizing participant observation. However, in-depth interviews will constitute the greatest part of data collection. Typed transcripts of interview audio recordings along with interview notes will be the core data that will shape the research. Whatever will be felt missing during interviews will be added (adjusted) into the interview question section accordingly. Moreover purposive sampling will be used to collect the data. A purposive sampling involves a lot of flexibility and sample size doesn’t need to be predetermined. It can be adjusted according to the feasibility on the field (Mack, Woodsong, MacQueen, Guest & Namey, 2005). Interpretation of data  Data will be collected through interviews and participant observation method. Then this data will be sampled through purposive sampling and will be ready for interpretations. One to come up with unbiased and useful information is to keep the interpretations and purely objective observations separate. They will be sorted on the review and will finally be given a better form that will be readable for all those who have basic knowledge about UAE and sports tourism that is on the rise. The final information in valid form will be presented ion matrix format to give a better understanding of the subject and how the conclusion is reached. Works Cited Alvesson, M. (1996). Leadership Studies: From Procedure and abstraction to reflexivity and situation. Leadership Quarterly, 7(4), 455-48 Bryman, A., M. Bresnen, A. Beardsworth, and T. Keil (1988). Qualitative Research and the Study of Leadership. Human Relations, 41(1), 13-3 Conger, J. (1998). Qualitative Research as the cornerstone methodology for understanding leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 9 (1): 107-121 Denzin N. and Lincoln Y. (Eds.) (2000). Handbook of Qualitative Research. London: Sage Publication Inc. Kvale, S. (1996). Interviews An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing, Sage Publications Lis, S. (2010). Dubai, from the scratch until today - a new vision of tourism?. (pp. 5-6). GRIN Verlag. Mack, N., Woodsong, C., MacQueen, K. M., Guest, G., & Namey, E. (2005). qualitative research methods: a data collector’s field guide. Research Triangle Park: US AID. Peck, M. C. (1986). The united arab emirates: a venture in unity. (pp. 73-74). Taylor & Francis. Read More