Reflections on Fieldwork in Saudi

PhD student Jaber AlruwailiUniversity of East AngliaSchool of Education

Value and Virtue Conference

Contents

Part I: Background and Context Part II: Saudi Culture Part III: Methodology & Reflections

World map

Part I: Background and Context

Brief profile of the country

Part I: Background and Context

Population Borders Climate Language Administrative

provinces Economy Education

Saudi Culture

Part II: Saudi Culture

Islam

Saudi Culture

Part II: Saudi Culture

Family values Communication and relationship

Getting started

Part III: Methodology & Reflections

Quantitative [Saudi

]

Qualitative [UEA]

Practical reasons: 1) Creswell’s observation. 2) An array of well-known scholarsIntrinsic interest: personal intellectual motivation.

Two case studies

Part III: Methodology & Reflections

Case study 1: Aljouf Directorate for girls

Case study 2: Eastern Directorate for boys

Choosing methods of data collection

Part III: Methodology & Reflections

Primary and Secondary Data

Structured interviews

Unstructured observation

Sampling

Part III: Methodology & Reflections

Typical administrations Representative of these administrations

Case name Aljouf Directorate Eastern Directorate

Gender male female male Female

Tape recording 5 5 11 -

Handwritten notes 5 5 10 -

Instant messenger - 1 - -

Total 10 11 21 -

An approach to recruiting participants

Part III: Methodology & Reflections

Advice from the literature. Requests through official “circular” Cordial invitation. ‘Future of our children’ Female manager. Tribal connection

Pilot and exploratory study of the instrument

Part III: Methodology & Reflections

Review of interview schedule

‘Dress rehearsal’ (Yin, 2009)

Data analysis

Part III: Methodology & Reflections

Techniques of Analysis (Kvale and Brinkmann, 2009)

Computer Assisted Tools Transcription process. Writing &Translation process

Ethics of Research

Part III: Methodology & Reflections

Confidentiality (S, SS or Sara) Participant Information Sheet and

Consent Form Final thesis and language (Albugami,

2007) A horrific incident

Authenticity and quality of the research

Part III: Methodology & Reflections

multiple sources of evidence

Stage No

Stage name Types of data Period

1Beforehand

(preliminary)documents –

informal visits1 month

2Throughout

(main)Interviews - field

notes3 months

3Thereafter

(supplementary)Observation 3 weeks

Authenticity and quality of the research

Part III: Methodology & Reflections

Relatively standardized approach

Trial session (novice coder & checker coder)