The main topic of the paper is about the disintegration of the family as a unit in the UAE. It tackles the reasons why the divorce rate is increasing, the causes of divorce, and any outside influences that affect the rising number of divorce cases. According to the results of the research, high divorce rate could be attributed to financial issues within the family and the culture in the country. In addition, the study revealed that weakening moral values also contribute to divorce cases considering that there are other nationalities also living in the country. The reason why this topic was selected over other socially relevant subjects is that it does not merely talk about the number of divorce cases, meaning, it is a topic that cannot simply be quantified. Instead, it talks about attitudes and behaviors of married people and the grounds for these marriages to crumble. It also considered the roles and relationships of parents and the negative impact of divorce on children. As I was doing the research, I realized the importance of reading and thoroughly assessing the research material at hand, whether it is other peoples’ research or my own. In this paper, I will share my views on how my understanding of research has changed my thinking as well as my writing.
In the field research aspect, I now have a better understanding and appreciation of how having an observant stance benefits me a lot. It has helped me gain more knowledge on how prepare the background for my paper, including arranging the information in the literature review section of my actual paper. I like it that the method I chose, which is interviewing, helps in providing the meat of the paper, alongside the actual research I did in books and newspapers. I also realized that even though I come very much prepared for the interview, some will not readily open up about themselves, thus, it is very important that I gain entry and trust before they actually share their experiences.
Although I used the interview method in some instances, I also learned that although I am the conductor of the whole process, I can act as the participant by allowing the interviewee to talk and express their opinions without interruption. This will result to giving the interviewee the reins in the interview. I can also opt to become the complete observer. As I said, I used face-to-face interview instead of email interview because it is also important that I get to see the non-verbal cues of the participants instead of just focusing on the interview itself. As such, conducting interviews as part of data collection can be considered an effective method of accumulating information. During an interview, it is just right that the interviewer and interviewee keep to the topic always to ensure that the topic does not deviate to another subject, although keeping the agenda flexible is also possible. Another helpful tip I remember is to always explore what the other person is saying by asking questions based on the interviewee’s answer. This is to ensure that I also understand exactly what the other party means.
Since interviews are a good method of presenting data, it would help also that the entire interview process is recorded because there is the possibility of losing information during the course of the interview. As a result, recording observations and interpretations is also necessary. I also realized that after the actual interview session, I must rewrite my notes just to ensure that I got everything correctly.
In conclusion, if I want to successfully come up with a high quality research paper, in the future, I should always ensure to think as researchers do so I grasp the meaning of the interviewee’s words clearly. Thus, possibilities of misinterpreting the meaning are avoided. Now, I see research differently than when I started.
