In the section “Methods for collecting data” we’ll cover the primary objectives of the research and answer the research questions. The following steps will be taken: A-For investigating the economic structure of the UAE (the primary objective of the research), we’ll look through the governmental documents; Desk research is effective method for collecting secondary data. This method involves collecting existing data (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill 2003).
This covers collecting documents and reports on tourism sectors policies that will be obtained from the UAE official website and from visiting the UAE agencies or departments engaged in the development of tourism sector policies. We’ll receive relevant documents and valid reports. Desk research involves also library research for collecting pertinent information from various secondary sources.
B-Since the United Arab Emirates is a federation that consists of seven states/ Emirates and since the policy of the economic activity design is being implemented in both federal and state levels, we are going to achieve the second objective – analysis of the UAE government policies in relation to the non-oil sector; – At the federal level we’ll make interviews with three senior officials from the UAE Ministry of Economy with the purpose of finding out what the Government Economic Policy is in general and Economic Diversification specifically;
-At the state level we’ll make interviews with nine senior officials. Since Abu-Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah represent 95% of the UAE’s GDP and since the tourism sector represents most of the UAE tourism sector in those states, we’ll interview three senior officials from each of the Departments of Tourism at Abu-Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah respectively; C- To cover the third objective; we’ll evaluate performance of government policies of economic diversification in UAE;
We will make interviews with eighteen senior officials at enterprises operating in the tourism sectors in UAE, like Hotels, Airlines and tourism entertainments (desert safari), six in Dubai (one from Emirates Airline, four from Dubai Hotels, and one from Dubai tourism entertainment), five in Abu-Dhabi (one from Etihad Airline, four from Abu-Dhabi Hotels, and one from Abu-Dhabi tourism entertainment), and five in Sharjah (one from Alarabia Airline, four from Sharja Hotels, and one from Sharja tourism entertainment). Research Timeframe Phase 1: Literature Review (moths 1-30)
Since this research would want to investigate the tourism sector of UAE on three levels: find out what are the government policies to grow the tourism sectors relying on/using government documents, make interviews with three segment of the tourism sectors in UAE, interviews with federal government officials and policy makers in the state government level (the states tourism promotion departments), and make interviews with seniors officials at enterprises/ firms that operates in the sectors of tourism in UAE like hotels, Airlines and entertainment in general which are related to the industrial tourism, this research will be descriptive in nature (Robson, 2002; Saunders et al, 2003). Phase 3: Data analysis (moths 10-30)
We will carry out analysis to the data we got from the government documents and from thy three groups of interviews. Yin (1994) suggested that every investigation should have a general analytic strategy, so as to guide the decision regarding what will be analyzed and for what reason. He presented some possible analytic techniques: pattern-matching, explanation-building, and time-series analysis.
Trochim (1989) considered pattern-matching as one of the most desirable strategies for analysis. This technique compares an empirically based pattern with a predicted one. If the patterns match, the internal reliability of the study is enhanced. The actual comparison between the predicted and actual pattern might not have any quantitative criteria. The discretion of the researcher is therefore required for interpretations. Phase 4: Writing-up (moths 18-36) The literature review, data from the fieldwork and subsequent theoretical insights will be developed into a PhD thesis exploring and evaluating the impact, interpretation and application of UAE Government policies on growing non-oil sectors