Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum Volume 2012 Issue 1

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Cultural diversity provides opportunities and challenges. Diversity in the workplace requires efficient communication to deliver effective leadership. Hamad Medical Corporation's expatriate population is one of its strengths. However, communication between cultures remains an issue. The aim of the study is to correlate relationships between the cross-cultural communication barriers and the leadership styles of nurse managers; it sought to answer the following: (1) What cross-cultural communication barriers are perceived in the Nursing Department of Hamad General Hospital? (2) What are the leadership styles of the nurse managers as rated by the staff nurses and the nurse managers themselves? (3) Is there a significant relationship between cross-cultural communication barriers and the leadership styles of nurse managers? (4) Based on the findings of the study, what transcultural management model can be proposed? METHODS: The study employed the descriptive-correlational design with convenient sampling as a technique. A sample size of one hundred forty-one (n-141) participants was utilized. Validated survey questionnaires using Cronbach's alpha coefficients were used. There were two questionnaires on leadership styles and one questionnaire on cross-cultural communication barriers. In finding the relationship of the cross-cultural communication barriers and the leadership styles, the correlation coefficient 'Pearson r' was utilized. RESULTS: - Stereotype has negative high correlation (-0.71) in Autocratic Leadership Style. - Different Expectations (0.96), Language Differences (0.94), and Misinterpretation of Communication (0.93) have very high correlations in Democratic Leadership Style. - Different Expectations (0.98), Language Differences (0.96) and Distrust (-0.91) have high positive and high negative correlations in Laissez-Faire Leadership Style, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: (1) Both the nurse managers and staff nurses believe that Different Expectations and Language Differences are top cross-cultural communication barriers. (2) Both the nurse managers and staff nurses believe that democratic leadership style is most evident in the workplace. (3) Cross-cultural communication programs should be considered to address Different Expectations, Language Differences, Stereotypes and Distrust. (4) Adopt a transcultural management model such as the M.D. Santos Transcultural Management Model.

This research project explores the implementation of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) programs within the broader rule of law program context. A case study is presented using field research and primary sources of one well-developed ADR country, Qatar. In particular, Qatar showcases how arbitration and mediation are being used as positive means of resolving legal disputes and working towards better administration of justice. ADR has been introduced as a method that offers newly-developed mechanisms and alternatives that greatly assist judges, barristers and legal experts in expediting legal cases, finding creative legal ways to solve court issues and facilitate the unclogging of institutional bottlenecks that usually characterize the Arab legal systems. As such, Qatar's example may have the potential to serve as a template for other MENA countries that are embarking on their own rule of law reforms, since it is perceived as model nation in the region (in terms of spearheading the adoption of ADR laws). However, ADR laws in the region as a whole, remain relatively undeveloped despite the existence of a supportive legal framework. My research would analyze the current legislative framework of ADR within MENA countries, with a focus on Qatar - given ADR advancements there, particularly the dispute settlement procedure and administration of justice. The research presents an important opportunity to consider the impact of ADR law on expanding access to justice, reducing burdens on court systems, introducing greater flexibility and creativity to the dispute resolution process, and opening avenues for conciliatory resolutions. Through the country case studies, this research seeks to place within the context of rule of law development, the use of ADR to increase access to justice and extend more widely the protections and benefits of the rule of law for advancing administration of justice by complementing the work of the formal justice system. Its essence is that it gives an in-depth look on the current ADR development challenges facing the Arab region and its future development as a means to resolve legal disputes, in accordance with national and traditional standards.

One of the terms that cause confusion, suspicion, many conflicts and disagreement is "Islamic renewal". While renewal is legitimate and necessary, as admitted by the imams of Islam, this term has become a source of contention in recent times. Some have tried to give this term a strange mission and vision far from the truth and essence of Islam. One of the greatest fields where controversy erupts is the field of renewal of Islamic jurisprudence, where there are three different calls: The first call believes that the renewal of jurisprudence leads to alienation of religion. The second call, however, sees that the renewal of jurisprudence is legitimate. The third call is also calls for renewal, but the renewal of its vision - meaning reformulating doctrine and religion to something different from what it known of Islam throughout its glorious history - to make it subservient to the values of other civilizations and its concepts. Hence from that, the importance of this research to differentiate between "legitimate renewal" and the renewal which is alleged to undermine Islam. This research was divided into four sections and a conclusion. The first section deals with the concept of jurisprudence and its status and historical background. The second section addresses the concept of renewal of Islamic jurisprudence. The third section addresses some very important issues pertaining to renewal of Islamic jurisprudence. The fourth section is allocated to discuss "alleged renewal" and the conclusion records the most important results of this research.

الناظر إلى واقع الأمة الإسلامية اليوم، على مختلف اتجاهاتها وتياراتها الفكرية والسلوكية؛ يرى انحرافا خطيرا عن الوسطية التي هي أخص خصائص هذه الأمة، إما إلى إفراط وإما إلى تفريط، إما إلى غلوّ وإما إلى جفاء. هذا على مستوى الأمّة عمومًا، فإذا نظرنا إلى واقع الغيّورين الذين أقضَّ مضاجعهم هذا الواقع المؤلم لأمّتهم، فطفقوا يبحثون عن سبل العلاج وطوق النَّجاة، فإننا نجد انعكاس واقع الأمة على حالهم، فمنهم المفرِط والمفرِّط، والمشَرِّق والمغرِّب، منهم من غلا وأفرط في الغلوّ، فنشأت جماعات تكفير ، وعادت سوق الخوارج رائجة، ومنهم من فرَّط وجفا، فأضاع معالم الدّين وأصول العقيدة، ففشا الإرجاء، وانطمست معالم التَّوحيد، وحقيقة العبادة. وبين هؤلاء وأولئك: فئة على منهج الوسطية تقتفي الأثر، وتصحِّح الطّريق، وتجدد الدين على منهج أهل السنة والجماعة وإن فضيلة الشيخ أبي الحسن الندوي -فيما نحسب ولا نزكي على الله أحدا- علم من هؤلاء العظماء الأعلام الذين استضاء بهم تاريخ أمتنا ، وجمعوا من الصفات ما بوأهم منزلة القيادة والريادة وهذا البحث وإن كان قد سبقه كثيرون كتبوا عن فضائل ومآثر هذا الإمام وفاء بحقه وتعميما لفضله وخيره، إلا أنه يركز على إبراز شيء مختلف فهو يعنى بدراسة جوانب الوسطية والتجديد في حياة الندوي، وهذا الجانب المهم لم يعتن به الآخرون، ولم يولوه حقه من البحث والدراسة. خطة الدراسة: قسَّمت هذه الدراسة إلى تمهيد وثلاثة فصول وخاتمة : أما التمهيد فيتضمن الحديث عن مفهوم الوسطية والتجديد، إذ هما المَعْنيَّان بالدراسة في حياة هذا الإمام. وأما الفصل الأول فتضمن التعريف بأبي الحسن وحياته العلمية. وأما الفصل الثاني: فتحدث عن جوانب الوسطية في شخصية وعلم وفكر أبي الحسن. وأما الفصل الثالث: فيتحدث عن أبرز جوانب التجديد التي اعتبر بسببها أبو الحسن أحد المجدٍّدين في العصر الحديث. وأما الخاتمة: فقد بثثت فيها بعض مشاعري تجاه هذه الشخصية العظيمة والتي عايشتها من خلال كتبها فترة تعلمت فيها الكثير. والله أسأل أن يجعل هذا العمل خالصا لوجهه الكريم وأن ينفع به كاتبه وقارئه، وجميع المسلمين. والله من وراء القصد، وهو حسبنا ونعم الوكيل.

Research has shown that students' performance on college-level mathematics is poor across the globe and Qatar is no exception. Thus, there is a need to analyze in depth the weaknesses in the educational system, its pedagogical approaches and the materials it employs. The main purpose of this research is to assess the mathematics performance of college students in Qatar. There could be a number of reasons for this under-performance. However, based on our experience as mathematics instructor, our research will focus on the following two aspects: Firstly, college level mathematics cannot begin unless students have followed preliminary courses in appropriate sequences which could provide them with a solid foundation. Consequently, we will attempt to answer this first question: 1. Is students' under-performance due to a lack of understanding of the basic mathematics studied earlier in their schooling? Secondly, most materials used in Qatari colleges are written in English; for instance, the current textbook in use. Furthermore, many colleges in Qatar either require students to sit for American exams, such as SAT, ACT, either at the point of entry or at the end of their foundation program. Since the majority of students in Qatar learn English as a second language, a second pertinent question is: 2. What is the relationship between students' language ability and performance in mathematics? In order to address these two questions, we conducted a survey among students in our college and prepared the same questionnaires for similar institutions. To gather enough evidence about the students' performance, we analyzed 'Beginner' and 'Advanced' group students' results on entrance examinations and several end-of-term tests within the foundation program. To get more information about the participants, we will conduct interviews with a sample of the students that will address the two research questions more deeply. The results of this research will facilitate a better understanding of student's under-performance specifically in mathematics and, possibly, other subjects. Since the leadership in Qatar sees education as key to social and economic progress, the results of this research could be useful to all educationists in Qatar in informing their future decisions.

Inequities in learning motivation among school students have been attributed to many factors, among which school environment and family support are important and well documented. Most of these studies have been in culturally different societies, which do not share much commonality with schools and societies of Arab world. Diversity within Arab world countries, with respect to their socioeconomic status, further thins down the possibility of establishing any grounded theories on these aspects, based on relevant literature available from studies conducted in Arab world countries. Schools with sufficient resources and infrastructures, and families without any economic constraints do influence the learners' motivation differently in some Arab countries, and lead to inequity, contrary to other findings elsewhere. A qualitative study was conducted in a boys' boarding school over a period of six years, with an initial pilot study with 12 selectively sampled students to establish the issues to be used for further interviews. The final interviews were conducted with the same 12 students and 54 other selectively sampled students of age ranging between 13 to 18 years. Information was gathered through records of students' academic performance, observation of students' classroom and out of class academic attitudes and interviews with open ended questions about their perception of school and family support. Common themes of perception of lack of belonging and support, from school and family, were prominent reasons for decreasing motivation for learning among these students. Negative perception of school environment induced by isolation emerged as a factor for reduced motivation. A new role of private tutors emerged to be influencing the motivation to learn. Private tutors, parents with less contact time, and disturbed family structure, did negatively affect the students' motivation to learn. Learners who were able to merge themselves with the school system were able to get self motivated. Such merger was influenced by the students' cultural adaptability, involvement of students' family member in the day to day affairs of the student in school and involvement of parents in school affairs and activities. The findings warrant, revision of curriculum and school policies, and social awareness, for affecting student learning motivation.

Energy consumption can be attributed to many factors; technology, energy prices, general economic conditions, attitude and behavior towards energy use. Studies indicate that although people are often aware of the benefits of using energy more efficiently, a variety of social, cultural, and economic factors often prevent them from doing so. This paper presents the findings of a research project funded by Qatar Foundation to understand the behaviors, attitudes, and levels of understanding among faculty, staff, and students related to energy use in Qatar University buildings. A multi-method approach was used in five buildings including web surveys, behavioral observations, environmental measures and focused interviews. The analyses considered differences between the three population groups. Among the findings, QU staff is most concerned about conserving energy in QU buildings while students are the least concerned. A significant proportion of survey respondents are not aware of the university's efforts to conserve energy and many felt that university efforts are inadequate. The observations and self-reports indicated an abundance of energy-consuming equipment in offices, and lights and computers are often left on when work spaces and conference rooms are unoccupied. Furthermore, occupants tend to wear heavy clothing during warm weather months, requiring excessively low building temperatures. Finally, most occupants are willing to accept higher building temperatures during warm weather months and lower temperatures during cold weather months. This research attempted to understand the psychological, cultural, and institutional context within which energy-related decisions are made in educational facilities and how these factors influence energy consumption. Understanding these factors helps public agencies design and implement more effective energy-saving policies and programs. Methods and tools developed by this study can be duplicated in other building types and facilities.

Objective: We dedicated our work to study the socio-demographic aspect of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) patients seeking psychiatry treatment in outpatient clinic of Hamad General Hospital for a duration of approximately 5 years of continuous follow-up. Methods: Out of 8878 individual patients who attended the psychiatric outpatient clinic from August 1996 to December 2001, we reviewed a total number of 348 patients with a diagnosis of OCD (according to International Classification of Diseases-10 diagnostic criteria). We divided them according to age, sex, nationality, duration of illness, occupation and marital status. Each patient was interviewed using a structured interview technique and evaluated by a psychiatrist in one session at the psychiatric outpatient clinic. Results: We found that the disorder is more prevalent among non-Qatari people (52%) (Arabs 26.2%, non-Arabs 15.8%) than Qatari people (48%); more common at the age groups of 31-45 years (44.8%); more frequent in the category that visited the outpatient clinic for a period of 1-4 years (60%). We found that the married females (34.5%) are affected more than the married males patient (24.7%). It was also found that in the diagnosis of OCD predominantly obsessional thoughts were 54.9%; more frequent in the sample than the other diagnosis. Conclusion: In the state of Qatar, where expatriates usually outnumber Qatari patients, we discovered that non-Qatari patients are affected more with OCD than the natives. Sex, marital status and occupation also proved to be important factors. From our study, in the female married group, being a housewife seems to pose a greater risk in developing OCD. Predominantly obsessional thought was the most common sub-type of OCD affecting the patients in Qatar.

Background & Rationale: The national vision of Qatar 2030 seeks to advance human development, social development, economic development and environmental development in the region, allowing it to modernize and stay relevant to 21st century global interactions while maintaining its morals, traditions, and culture. The Qatari government has already devoted significant resources toward providing services that strengthen families in Qatar. As in many countries, various social campaigns are promoted through public service announcements in print media, billboards, and via radio and TV. However, technology and society are changing and these traditional approaches may not be the only way (or the best way) to reach all intended audiences especially in the field of developmental and charity work. Purpose: The study tested and evaluated the effectiveness of public service announcement campaigns and determineed if utilization of newer communication technologies (SMS, social media, etc.) can positively supplement more traditional methods of distributing public service announcements (e.g. billboard, radio, TV) and how this would be reflected on shaping public awareness and response to these campaigns in developmental and charity work. The project enlisted the support of local organizations (such as Qatar Foundation, Supreme Council of Education, Supreme Council of Family Affairs, Supreme Council of Communication) and non-governmental organizations, regional and international agencies to assess the effectiveness of various public service announcement campaigns. In particular we were interested in how well messages reach target audiences via traditional means and what is the impact of these messages on public awareness and response. The project also investigated the effectiveness of new alternative messaging strategies to see if alternative messaging techniques such as SMS and social networking pages could enhance and improve the effectiveness of these campaigns. Methodology: The study depended on comparative methodology using content analysis, focus group discussions and surveying target audience. The study will compare and assess different campaigns locally, regionally and internationally so as to set a new model of designing and better use new media tools and techniques. The results of this research provided useful data to help agencies determine the best ways to reach communities for which they can provide services.