Sample Research Proposal on Stereotypes About Arabs and Muslims

Introduction Terrorism is the deliberate creation and exploitation of fear for bringing about political change. All terrorist acts involve violence or equally important the threat of violence. These violent acts are committed by nongovernmental groups or individuals that is, by those who are neither part of nor officially serving in the military forces, law enforcement agencies, intelligence services, or other governmental agencies of an established nation-state (Kress, Livingston & Wanek, 1978). Terrorists attempt not only to sow panic but also to undermine confidence in the government and political leadership of their target country. Terrorism is therefore designed to have psychological effects that reach far beyond its impact on the immediate victims or object of an attack.    Terrorists mean to frighten and thereby intimidate a wider audience, such as a rival ethnic or religious group, an entire country and its political leadership, or the international community as a whole. Terrorist groups generally have few members, limited firepower, and comparatively few organizational resources. For this reason they rely on dramatic, often spectacular, bloody and destructive acts of hit-and-run violence to attract attention to themselves and their cause. Through the publicity generated by their violence, terrorists seek to obtain the leverage, influence, and power they otherwise lack (Kress, Livingston & Wanek, 1978). Terrorism has existed for at least 2,000 years and is likely to remain a fixture on political agendas, both domestic and international, for years to come. Terrorism provides a means by which the weak can confront much stronger opponents. It therefore has an enduring appeal to the alienated and the disenfranchised, the aggrieved and vengeful, the powerless and the would-be powerful. In addition, it is relatively inexpensive to conduct while offering a vast potential payoff: the ability to evoke fear and alarm and inflict pain and suffering in the hope of compelling agreement to demands made. Terrorism, moreover, is evolving constantly to overcome governmental countermeasures designed to defeat it. Terrorism thus involves an ongoing search for new targets and unidentified vulnerabilities in its opponents. This quest also raises the possibility that terrorists may pursue unconventional means of attack, such as chemical, biological, or radiological weapons, or nuclear weapons. Future terrorist tactics could include cyber-terrorism or electronic warfare that targets critical infrastructure, such as communications and power facilities, or societies in general (Kress, Livingston & Wanek 1978).   Throughout the world, terrorism reinvents itself in new and more dangerous forms. As older groups are defeated or exhausted, more radical and more violent successors often take their place. Although terrorism likely can never be completely eradicated, countering its threat requires continuing vigilance. The highly individual nature of terrorism's causes, the diversity of its perpetrators, and the complexity of its fundamental characteristics present enormous challenges to those who must effectively counter this menace (Lutz, BJ & Lutz, JM, 2004). Stereotyping is a thing if given to a person or a group of person becomes hard to remove. Having given stereotypes makes a person or a group of people prone to violence, hate, and discrimination. There are many forms of stereotyping to Arabs and Muslims. Terrorism is a probable reason for Muslims and Arabs to be stereotyped. Through this study other reasons for Muslims and Arabs being stereotyped can be known. Through this study a better understanding of why Muslims and Arabs are being stereotyped.  The study can assist in finding ways to remove the stereotypes being given to Arab and Muslims. The study will try to remove stereotyping to Arabs and Muslims through finding out reasons for such.   Literature Review Arabs Arabs is a name given to the ancient and present-day inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula and often applied to the peoples closely allied to them in ancestry, language, religion, and culture. Presently more than 200 million Arabs are living mainly in 21 countries; they constitute the overwhelming majority of the population in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, and the nations of North Africa. The Arabic language is the main symbol of cultural unity among these people, but the religion of Islam provides another common bond for the majority of Arabs. Language and religion are united in the Qur'an (Koran), the sacred scripture of Islam (Hoyland, 2001). During the past two centuries of rapid world change, hundreds of years of cultural unity have been disrupted, and the Arabs, led by the people of Egypt and Morocco, have moved more and more into separate national traditions. In some countries, such as Iran, Afghanistan, and Indonesia, minority communities of Arabs retain only language, religion, and histories of their migrations to their present locations (Hoyland, 2001). Dozens of large cities and hundreds of towns reflect the pronounced urban character of the Arab world; in most of the countries about 40 percent of the people are urban dwellers. All Arab nations suffer from conspicuous economic inequalities, especially the concentration of wealth and power in a ruling elite. Most are also undergoing severe urbanization stresses as the failing rural economies drive poverty-stricken, landless peasants to the cities. The growth of modern cities through rural migration has caused serious problems in these urban centers, including unemployment, housing shortages, and the proliferation of vast slums (Hoyland, 2001).   Muslims There are estimated to be over 800 million Muslims. Muslim enthusiasts inflate the figure to one billion, about twenty percent of the world population. Almost one in every four nations in the world are Muslim. The number tends to fluctuate at the margin as they fuse Egypt and Syria, or fissure Pakistan into Bangladesh. The populations in these nations do not represent the full strength of Muslims. Large Muslim minorities live in non-Muslim nations, notably India, the Soviet Union and China. While the twentieth century cannot reject Islam it is here to stay as a force in turn, Islam must accept the twentieth century. It will not go away, and rejection is the easy way out. Islam must come to terms with the twentieth century; by doing so it will come to terms with itself. There appears to be uncontrollable emotion in Muslim society which sweeps everything before it, preventing the Islamic resurgence from being harnessed (Ahmed 2002).  Muslims need reason and argument to make sense of the Islamic passion. For some people it can be the statement of a Muslim concerned about his society yet acutely aware of its tensions and those generated from the world around it. One answer is to lull ourselves into believing that when people look into the mirror they see perfection. Like the Greek god Narcissus they fall in love with themselves. This is Narcissistic anthropology. It will lead nowhere. Being Muslim allows special insights but also places certain constraints. The role of the neutral social scientist is almost mythical. In most cases he is both actor and observer. To present an accurate, objective view he must learn to balance the two roles. It is not a good time to look at Muslims. The earlier breadth of vision, tolerance and self-assurance are missing. A new element of hysteria, shrill and discordant, has entered. The colonial era has left deep scars. Rejecting the West, berating it for the shortcomings of the world, is seductive; it is an easy way out. People remain transfixed with the image of the aggressor, the predator; it is part of the colonial legacy. But it is time to turn their gaze inwards. They need to look at themselves realistically, clinically; as they are not as they imagine they are (Ahmed 2002).   Muslims and Arabs Stereotypes The demonizing of Arabs and Muslims in America began well before the terrible tragedy of September 11, 2001. It can be traced to deliberate mythmaking by film and media, stereotyping as part of conscious strategy of experts and polemicists on the Middle East,  the selling of a foreign policy agenda by US government officials and groups seeking to affect that agenda,  and a public susceptible to images identifying the unwelcome other in its midst.  Bearing the brunt of these factors are Arab and Muslim non-citizens in this country. A series of government laws and policies since the 1970's have steadily targeted Arab and Muslim non-citizens for selective interrogation, detention, harassment, presumption of terrorist involvement,  and removal from the country.  The Patriot Act,  recent round-up and detention of over 1,000 and list of interrogation targets of 5,000 individuals,  and the Presidential Order to establish quasi-military tribunals  exacerbate the selective targeting of Arab and Muslim non-citizens in a climate of fear that completely sanctions blatant racial profiling (Akram, 2002).    Anti-Arab racism does not emanate from a single source, and certainly is not limited to passions stemming from the Arab-Israeli conflict. Several types of anti-Arab racism and violence can be discerned. The first, and most obvious, is the political violence of Jewish extremist groups, which is correctly viewed as emanating from the Arab-Israeli conflict. The second is a more nativistic violence which is xenophobic and local in nature. The third is a form of jingoist hostility and violence usually associated with international crises involving U.S. citizens (Akram, 2002). Misinformation, Distortion And Institutionalized Racism In Government, Law Enforcement And Influential Institutions Targeting Arabs And Muslims One of the factors with the greatest impact on the targeting of Arabs and Muslims is what might best be termed institutionalized racism in government and law enforcement, in collaboration with institutions and think-tanks having a specific ideological or foreign policy agenda driven by anti-Arabism. This is also possibly the least well-documented phenomenon in the racializing of Arabs and Muslims leading to the widespread acceptance of profiling and related loss of civil liberties (Akram, 2002).   As was seen in the literature there are different reasons for the stereotyping of Arabs and Muslims. They were stereotyped because of different intents and because some would gain something from it. Many ways are also used to stereotype Muslims and Arabs. People who want to give them a hard time are willing and makes sure that they achieve their goal.  The study will go further into the reasons why Arabs and Muslims are stereotyped and give a deeper knowledge why such happen. A hypothesis that is intended to be proven in the study is stereotyping and discrimination happens because of the differences in religion. People don't want other religions to experience the freedom they have. Another probable reason for stereotyping is the different physical characteristics that Muslims and Arabs have.   Method Sample This study will use the descriptive type of research. Descriptive method of research is to gather information about the present existing condition.  The purpose of employing this method is to describe the nature of a situation, as it exists at the time of the study and to explore the cause/s of particular phenomena (Creswell, 1994). The study opted to use this kind of research considering the goal of the study to obtain first hand data so as to formulate rational and sound conclusions and recommendations for the study. The research is partly based on quantitative research method so as to permit a flexible and iterative approach. The choice and design of methods are constantly modified during data gathering based on ongoing analysis. This allowed for an investigation of important new issues and questions as they arose. This study also employed partly qualitative research method, since this research intends to find theories that would explain the relationship of one variable with another variable through qualitative elements in research. These qualitative elements do not have standard measures; rather, they are behavior, attitudes, opinions, and beliefs. The study will focus on the respondents that are Arabs, Muslims and those not among the two. This gives the study a wider perspective and more ideas can be acquired from such. Through gathering information from such respondents both sides of the story can be taken, more views can be known, and a better understanding of the real situation can be created.   Data Collection The primary source of data will come from a survey using questionnaire and interviews that will be conducted by the researcher. The primary data frequently gives the detailed definitions of terms and statistical units used in the survey. These are usually broken down into finer classifications. The secondary source of data will come from research through the internet; books, journals, related studies and other sources of information. Acquiring secondary data are more convenient to use because they are already condensed and organized. Moreover, analysis and interpretation are done more easily. For this research data will be gathered through collating published studies from different books, articles from different related journals and studies, and other literary instruments. Afterwards make a content analysis of the collected documentary and verbal material. The study will then summarize all the necessary information. The study will then make a conclusion based on the said information and provide insightful recommendations on how to solve the said problem. Due to time constraints and also, for the convenience of the researcher, only forty (40) respondents were considered for the study. The convenience sampling technique was imposed in the study to pick up the forty respondents, mainly because the availability of the Muslims, Arabs and those not belonging to these two was considered.   Measures To measure the concepts comparison of the ideas with the information gathered will be made. In doing such a better understanding will be made. The misconceptions and wrong knowledge can be observed and changed. Observations will be made regarding the answers of the respondents to assess how subjects rate with respect to the concepts. This helps in giving answers to questions and clearing doubts. Analysis After all the data from the researcher-made questionnaire were collected, the following statistical formulae were used: 1.                                 Percentage – to determine the magnitude of the responses to the questionnaire.             n % = -------- x 100         ;           n – number of responses             N                                  N – total number of respondents 2.                                 Weighted Mean             f1x1 + f2x2  + f3x3 + f4x4  + f5x5 x = ---------------------------------------------  ;                         xt where:             f – weight given to each response                         x – number of responses                         xt – total number of responses The researcher will be assisted by the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) in coming up with the statistical analysis for this study. SPSS is one of the most widely available and powerful statistical software packages that cover a broad range of statistical procedures, which allows a researcher to summarize data, determine whether there are significant differences between groups, and examine relationships among variables and graph results (Abernethy & Einstein,  2000). Data gathered will be analyzed through frequency distributions. These will give way to reviewing the data categories and the number of referrals in each category. The information that will be gathered and analyzed will be important to achieve the objectives it desires.   Plan for dissemination The result of the findings is to be given to people who would like to continue studying on such topic. Through the study a deeper research can be made so that stereotyping can be given proper action. The result of the findings is also to be given to human rights associations so that they can make ways to prevent stereotyping and create reminders to nations and their government about stereotyping and its effects. Lastly the result would be made known to public through the different media possible like the internet, television and others. This helps in giving information to people about stereotyping Muslims and Arabs thus their misconception might be changed and if they are guilty of such acts they will not do it anymore.   Timeline The first to second week will be used to complete the first three chapters in the study. These chapters are the introduction part, review of related literature, and methodologies used. In gathering data the first thing to do is make sure that the questionnaire is understood by the respondents. A sample survey is done among 5 people to know the flaws and strength of the questionnaire, these people is not anymore included in the number of respondents.  In acquiring the primary and secondary data three to four weeks will be used. During this times the number of respondents have been completed, the respondents has finished answering the questionnaire and secondary researches has been made. After gathering all the data needed one to two weeks will be used to analyze the data and get the needed information from such. The last week will be used to finalize the study to disseminate it.