Arabic-L:GEN:Needs help with Cultural Issues on Survey Research

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Thu 22 Feb 2007
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject:Needs help with Cultural Issues on Survey Research

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1)
Date: 22 Feb 2007
From:Afra Al-Mussawir <afraalmussawir at yahoo.com>
Subject:Needs help with Cultural Issues on Survey Research

please contact dan directly at dphelps at cmu.edu if you can offer any  
insight!
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I'll soon be involved with conducting a research survey in the
broader, pan-Arab area of the Middle East and have been warned of
potential cultural issues which may impact the responses, both
quantitatively and qualitatively.  Essentially, I've been told that as a
broad culture there is reluctance to admit poor performance, even
anonymously, if it reflects negatively on social structures to which the
respondent may be involved.  As the research effort is to identify
information system security issues, it's imperative to elicit
information related to security problems found in organizations.

Are these perceptions anecdotal or do they accurately reflect
cultural biases in the more Arab cultures of the greater Middle East?

If this is accepted as true, I was also wondering if anyone has come
across literature in their own research that might suggest a way of
ameliorating these cultural differences in the phrasing of questions for
survey instruments?

Thanks for any assistance you may be able to provide. Please reply to
dphelps at cmu.edu.

Sincerely,

Dan Phelps
-- 
************************************
Daniel C. Phelps, Ph.D.
Carnegie Mellon University
4500 5th Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

office: (412) 268-6617
fax:    (412) 268-9262

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End of Arabic-L:  22 Feb 2007