Bridging a gulf between environmental attitudes and behavior: Assessment of motivating factors for the youth in Qatar

To this day, there is a dearth of published research on environmental awareness, attitudes and behaviour in the Arabian Gulf, and there is no systematic data regarding the value people place on the environment. Understanding the operating social and political context, community values, and potential incentives in the face of environmental change is crucial for designing appropriate intervention measures and informing environmental policy of the region (Moran, 2010; Schultz & Kaiser, 2012). By narrowing the focus down to university-educated youth in Qatar, this paper aims to bridge the gap between reported environmental attitudes and actual behaviour by evaluating different factors that could motivate the younger generation to become more involved in Qatar’s environmental conservation efforts and lead to a more sustainable social and economic growth. Ajzen’s (1991) Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) is employed as the main conceptual framework, hypothesising attitudes, perceived behavioural control and social norms as predictive of pro-environmental behaviour. For the purposes of this study, the model was expanded to consider childhood activities in nature, education, and proximity to an environmental issue as additional factors that are deemed relevant for predicting pro-environmental behaviour. To test the hypothesised correlation between the different factors and environmental behaviour, a close-ended questionnaire was administered to 299 Qatar University undergraduate students in May 2016, with series of questions regarding their time spent in nature, environmental attitudes, social pressure to behave pro-environmentally and whether they feel in control over their actions. Statistical analyses of the gathered data revealed partial applicability of the theoretical model for understanding environmental behaviour, with several factors of the original TPB model (namely attitudes, positive social norms and internal locus of control) as well as supplementary factors (childhood time in nature and university-level education) emerging as significant predictors of pro-environmental behaviour. In addition, analysis of open-ended questions revealed religion and governmental incentives as additional factors that have the potential to motivate students into more pro-environmental behaviour. A general lack of awareness was reported by the respondents, who often blamed ignorance for people’s unwillingness to act more pro-environmentally in their daily lives. Although the respondents held overwhelmingly proenvironmental attitudes, their willingness to engage in pro-environmental behaviour was not as evident, due to several factors at play. The paper concludes by suggesting ways how those factors can be utilised to help shape the environmental behaviour of younger generations; however, it also warns that only by bridging the gulf between academic research and policy-making can the gulf between stated environmental values and actual behaviour be truly overpassed

Determinants of College and University Choice for High-School Students in Qatar

Drawing on existing research, this paper investigates various predictors of high school students’ college and university choice decisions in Qatar. Based on a 2015 survey of 1,427 participants, this study utilized exploratory factor analysis to identify variables that affect student choice of higher educational institutions (HEI). Three factors were extracted from the analysis, revealing the following aspects of the academic experience as important when choosing a HEI: quality of education, cultural values, and the cost of education. To further the understanding of the relevance of these factors for different student demographics, we employed ordinal logistic regression to test whether several independent variables (student’s gender, nationality, parental education, and parental occupation) act as significant predictors of the three extracted dimensions (dependent variables). The analysis revealed that, indeed, demographic characteristics significantly predict, to varying degrees, all three factors affecting student’s HEI choice. Discussion on postulated reasons behind the recorded relationships will follow, along with implications and recommendations for further study and research. Findings of this study will help HEIs in Qatar and the broader region to position themselves more effectively, and develop targeted strategies that attract a diverse student population

Social capital and sense of neighbourhood belonging among Qatari nationals

This study examines citizens’ sense of neighbourhood belonging in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, focusing on the State of Qatar. While much research about this issue has been conducted in developed countries, little is known about how citizens’ ‘stock’ of social capital, religiosity and civic engagement affect their sense of belonging to their neighbourhood within GCC countries. In the present study, we address this question by analysing data from two waves of nationally representative surveys undertaken in Qatar, drilling down into the various dimensions of social capital and their effect on community attachment at the neighbourhood level. The results indicate that, even after controlling for a wide range of demographic variables, social capital has a strong effect on the nationals’ sense of belonging to their communities. The results have implications for researchers with respect to the salience of social capital as a concept and for policymakers concerned with building an integrated and diverse community that is inclusive of people from various backgrounds

مسح العمال في دول مجلس التعاون الخليجي ٢٠١٢

This report presents the results of the 2012 GCC survey of migrant workers residing in Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study was conducted by the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute at Qatar University. All those connected with this project are grateful to the thousands of migrant workers who gave their valuable time to participate in this survey. The successful completion of this survey was made possible through the contributions of many dedicated individuals who work for SESRI at Qatar University and for the Pan Arab Research Center (PARC) which, in collaboration with SESRI, collected the data in Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. At SESRI, the 2012 GCC survey of migrant workers benefitted from a strong and dedicated leadership team. The project received enthusiastic support and valuable advice from Dr. Darwish Alemadi, Director of SESRI. Dr. Abdoulaye Diop, Head of Research at SESRI, was the Lead Principal Investigator and was involved in all phases of the project. Dr. Kien T. Le, Associate Research Professor at SESRI was the Co-Principal Investigator and was actively involved in the development, design, management, and data analysis of the project. Survey Operations Manager, Dr. Elmogiera Fadlallh Elsayed Elawad, was responsible for the recruitment and training of interviewers, as well as supervision of the data collection. Survey Research Technology Specialist, Anis Ben Ridha Miladi wrote the programming script for data collection in Qatar. Senior Research Assistants Semsia Al-Ali Mustafa, Mohammed Hassan M. T. AL-Subaey, Sara Ali Ahmed Zikri as well as Fatimah Ali A. Al-Fayyad Al-Khaldi, Policy Analyst, at SESRI, Qatar University, assisted the team throughout all the phases of the project including the writing of this report. John Lee Holmes, Head of CATI Operations and Catherine Samir Nasrallah, Research Assistant at SESRI, Qatar University, assisted in reviewing and editing this final manuscript. SESRI is also grateful to the Pan Arab Research Center (PARC) for conducting the data collection in Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. SESRI recognizes and greatly appreciates the excellent work done by Sami Raffoul, PARC General Manager, Khaled H. Cheaib, Senior Researcher at PARC in assisting with the questionnaire design and data collection.‏يعرض هذا التقرير نتائج مسح العمال في دول مجلس التعاون الخليجي 2012 ‏المقيمين في البحرين ، سلطنة عمان ، والكويت، وقطر والمملكة العربية السعودية. أجرى الدراسة معهد البحوث الاجتماعية الاقتصادية المسحية في جامعة قطر. وجميع العاملين على هذا المشروع يتقدمون بالشكر والتقدير لآلاف العمال الذين قاموا بالمشاركة في هذه الدراسة ‏تم الانتهاء بنجاح من هذه الدراسة بفضل مساهمة العديد من الأفراد العاملين في معهد البحوث الاجتماعية الاقتصادية في جامعة قطر وفى المركز العربي للبحوث والدراسات الاستشارية (PARC‏)، الذى قام بجمع البيانات في البحرين، وسلطنة عمان، والكويت، وقطر والمملكة العربية السعودية. في معهد البحوث الاجتماعية الاقتصادية المسحية، استفاد مسح العمال في دول مجلس التعاون الخليجي 2012 من الفريق القيادي القوي والمتخصص. وحصل المشروع على دعم ونصائح قيمة من الدكتور درويش العمادي، مدير معهد البحوث الاجتماعية الاقتصادية المسحية، والدكتور عبدالله ديوب، رئيس قسم البحوث بمعهد البحوث الاجتماعية الاقتصادية المسحية، الذي كان الباحث الرئيسي الأول، وشارك في جميع مراحل المشروع. وكان الدكتور كين تي لي، استاذ البحوث المشارك في معهد البحوث الاجتماعية الاقتصادية المسحية ، والباحث الرئيسي المشارك، والذي شارك بفاعلية في وضع، وتصميم وإدارة وتحليل بينات المشروع

From the "Fareej" to Metropolis" Qatar Social Capital Sirvey II

Qatar faces a social and economic transformation today linked to its unique demographic composition. Understanding social interactions within and across its diverse subgroups is critical for understanding and managing this transformation. In its second wave of "From Fareej to Metropolis: A Social Capital Survey of Qatar II", we set out to describe those interactions and to compare them to the findings from the 2011 first wave survey. To achieve this goal, we draw on the concept of social capital, which refers to the sum of correlation indicators between the members of the same community, whether at the level of family and personal relationships, between different groups in the community, or the trust in institutions and public services. 2 Numerous studies support the hypothesis that there is a link between the increase of social capital in a certain community and its prosperity, including the work by Robert Putnam3 on Italian south and north provinces, in which he makes a link between the prosperity of the north and the increase of social capital indicators therein. This executive report presents a comparison between selected findings from the 2011 and 2015 waves of "From Fareej to Metropolis: A Social Capital Survey of Qatar.” The report is organized according to the various social capital literatures into bridging, bonding, and institutional social capital. 4 Bonding indicators examine the relationship between members of the same group and family and personal relationships, while bridging social capital indicators explore the relationship and communication between various groups. Finally, the third section presents the results of the institutional social capital indicators, which examine the attitudes of Qataris and white-collar expats towards government services, media sources, and their participation in charity and volunteer work. The report concludes that social capital in Qatar is still high in terms of within-group bonding relationships. It also indicates a significant increase in the indicators of trust among Qataris and white-collar workers in particular, while the percentage remained stable for the blue-collar workers as compared to the previous wave of the study. Last section of the study notes a rise in confidence among Qataris and white-collar workers in government agencies and services, and in unofficial sources of information such as majlis, the internet, and friends. It is also noted that there is no significant increase in the percentage of people participating in civil society institutions between the two waves of the study

استطلاع آراء القطريين والوافدين حول استضافة كأس العالم لكرة القدم 2022

This report presents the results of The Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup survey of Qatari nationals and white-collar expatriates residing in Qatar. The study was conducted and funded by the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) at Qatar University in collaboration with the University of Florida. The data are intended to inform planners and decision makers, as well as the academic community. All those connected with this project are grateful to the hundreds of Qatari nationals and white-collar residents who gave their valuable time to participate in this survey. The successful completion of the survey was made possible through the contributions of many dedicated individuals who work at the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI), Qatar University, and at Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management, College of Health and Human Performance at the University of Florida. The Social & Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) is an independent research organization at Qatar University. Since its inception in 2008, it has developed a strong survey-based infrastructure in order to provide high quality survey data for planning and research in the social and economic sectors.الهدف من هذا المشروع هو تقييم مدى تأثير كأس العالم على تغيير نوعية حياة الأشخاص الذين يعيشون في دولة قطر من خلال تقييم تأثير الإعداد لهذا الحدث على البلد والمنطقة. وقد تم الإشارة إلى إرث الفعالية في كلمات رئيس لجنة ملف قطر 2022 ،الشيخ محمد بن حمد آل ثاني: "إن المنافع الاقتصادية ستكون كبيرة لكل بلد في منطقة الشرق الأوسط. وسيكون منصة كبيرة نحو تغيير نظرة العالم الإسلامي ومنطقة الشرق الأوسط للعالم الخارجي". أهداف الدراسة ذات شقين: أ) دراسة تأثيرات الفعالية على الاتجاهات العامة، ونوعية الحياة والتصورات و دعم كأس العالم في دولة قطر وعالقة ذلك مع نوعية حياة المقيمين من أجل تحديد آثار الفعالية على المواطنين و المقيمين في دولة قطر؛ ب) وضع بيانات مرجعية للمواطنين و للمقيمين في دولة قطر بشأن تأثيرات كأس العالم على المنطقة. تتمثل أهمية الدراسة في ثلاث جوانب: أولا توفر بيانات أساسية وتضع أساسا لنهج طولي لتقييم آثار الفعاليات الكبيرة، و هو ما ينقصنا حاليا في أدبيات الاطار النظري. ثانيا اقتراح نموذج لتقييم العوامل التي تؤثر على المواقف تجاه الفعالية، ونوعية الحياة ودعم الفعالية في دولة مثل قطر التي تمثل منطقة الشرق الأوسط والقيم الثقافية والحياتية المرتبطة بالبلد والمنطقة. ثالثا يسمح هذا التقييم بتشكيل وتنفيذ سياسة من شأنها أن تؤدي إلى تدخلات لتحسين نوعية حياة السكان والحصول على تأييدهم تجاه الفعالية من خلال مشاركتهم في عملية استضافة الحدث. بالإضافة إلى ذلك، ستوفر الدراسة لصناعة الرياضة في دولة قطر والمنظمات المرتبطة بكرة القدم، مثل اللجنة العليا للمشاريع والإرث، معلومات تساعد على صياغة استراتيجيات الاتصال ذات الصلة مع وسائل الإعلام وغيرها من الجهات المعنية (مثل، الهيئة العامة للسياحة) و يمكن أن تكون البيانات الأساسية أرضية للدارسين الذين يهدفون إلى مراقبة تصورات مشابهة للعمل/ البحث في المستقبل، و بالتالي إيجاد بصمة في المجال التعليمي. في مسح كأس العالم لكرة القدم 2022 في قطر، تم إجراء مقابلات مع عينة تمثل المواطنين القطريين و الوافدين أصحاب المهن المكتبية. بشكل عام، تم عقد 2163 مقابلة، منها1058))مع المواطنين القطريين و(1105) مع الوافدين من أصحاب المهن المكتبية. تم اختيار المواطنين القطريين و الوافدين أصحاب المهن المكتبية من أسر من جميع البلديات في دولة قطر وتم إجراء مقابلات شخصية باللغة العربية أو الإنجليزية اعتمادا على برنامج استخدام الحاسب. يوجد مزيد من التفاصيل عن منهجية البحث في القسم السابع. ملاحظة: تشير كلمة الوافدون/الوافدين في التقرير إلى أفراد العينة من غير القطريين والذين تم وصفهم في موجز المنهجية بأصحاب المهن المكتبية

المسح السنوي الشامل : مسح عن الحياة في دولة قطر 2014

This Executive Summary presents the highlights of the 2014 Omnibus survey, the fourth in a series of Omnibus surveys since 2010. The surveys were carried out by the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) of Qatar University. Each Omnibus survey interviews a large and representative sample of Qatari citizens, resident expatriates and laborers. In these surveys, we asked a number of questions covering several topics of importance to Qatari society, including their attitudes and behaviors related to media; political values and attitudes; gender; charities and charitable donations; traffic; and laborers. The survey was designed and carried out in accordance with the highest scientific and ethical standards. Respondents were assured that their answers would be confidential and presented in an aggregate format. This project was fully funded by the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) at Qatar University. The findings made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.يقدم هذا التقرير الموجز أبرز ما في المسح الشامل لعام 2014 ،الرابع في سلسلة المسوح الشاملة منذ عام 2010 .تم تنفيذ البحوث من قبل معهد البحوث الاجتماعية والاقتصادية المسحية((SESRI بجامعة قطر. في كل مسح شامل تم استطلاع آراء عينة كبيرة تمثل المواطنين القطريين، والمقيمين والعمال. في هذه المسوح تم طرح عدد من الأسئلة تغطي العديد من المواضيع التي تهم المجتمع القطري، بما في ذلك المواقف والسلوكيات المتعلقة بوسائل الإعلام؛ والقيم والمواقف السياسية؛ دور الرجل والمرأة؛ المؤسسات والتبرعات الخيرية؛ وحركة المرور؛ والعمال الوافدين. صمم ونفذ هذا المسح وفقا لأعلى المعايير العلمية والأخلاقية. وتم التأكيد على المشاركين بأن إجابتهم سرية ومقدمة في شكل إجمالي. وقد تم تمويل هذا المشروع بالكامل من قِبل معهد البحوث الاجتماعية والاقتصادية المسحية بجامعة قطر. وإن الاستنتاجات الموجودة في هذا التقرير هي مسؤولية المؤلفين وحدهم

Growing food pyramids in the sand: how sustainable are Qatar’s self-sufficiency and foreign agro-investment policies?

Achieving food security in the Arabian Gulf is no easy task. Fuelled by petrodollars, the countries largely rely on imports to feed their burgeoning population, making them susceptible to price and supply shocks. This paper begins by examining why food security is so important to the Gulf, narrowing the focus down to Qatar. Its almost absolute dependence on food imports and water desalination make it a distinct and appropriate case study. The two most important strategies through which Qatar plans to achieve its food security- domestic production and foreign agro-investments will be assessed and weighed against their financial, political and environmental costs. Lastly, broader implications including the need to address rampant food waste and poor nutrition will be discussed, issues that are currently side-lined but without which no true sustainable food security can be achieved

Welfare Index of Migrant Workers: The Case Of Qatar

In December 2010, Qatar won the rights to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup games. The announcement came with increasing pressure from international human rights organizations, media and other groups for Qatar to reform its labor laws, which governs the lives and working conditions of foreign workers in the country. Although Qatar continues to develop and implement major reforms to its labor laws, until now there was no one unique tool based on survey data to evaluate the impact of the government's policies on guest workers. The objective of this paper is to present the Qatar Guest Workers' Welfare Index (GWWI), a multi-dimensional comprehensive tool based on survey data of migrant workers developed by the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI). In addition to assessing and tracking the welfare of this population, the objective of the index is to identify areas of improvement to guide policy formulation

QATAR'S LABOUR LAW CHANGES AND WORKERS WELFARE: ATTITUDES & PERCETIONS FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

From September 22 2020 to January 19 2021, the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) at Qatar University surveyed 2,760 individuals, including Qatari nationals, higher-income and lower-income expatriates about Qatar's recent Labor Law changes. The survey is based on a nationally representative sample interviewed by telephone in nine different languages. The survey shows that both Qataris and resident expatriates have a mostly positive perception of the recent Labor Law changes and their impact on Qatar's economy and the working and living conditions of expatriates. However, the findings also indicate that public awareness surrounding the new legislative reforms remains low