NU-Q starts work on two key research projects

Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) has started work on two research projects for which the media school was awarded two Qatar National Research Fund grants worth more than $100,000.

The grants were designated for two research proposals on cross-cultural surveying and media influence on women’s sports participation. Students of the college, led by faculty advisers Susan Dun and Jocelyn Mitchell, will be involved in all aspects of the research projects, from survey design, data gathering, and data analysis, to both co-authoring and co-presenting the research papers that come out of the projects, a spokesperson yesterday said.

Dun, a senior lecturer in the Communications programme, says her research “should discover the major barriers to women’s participation in sports, allowing the design of effective media campaigns.” Dun will lead the research on ‘Catalysts and constraints: Women’s and girls’ experience of physical activity and sport in Qatar,’ with assistance from an undergraduate student in NU-Q’s Communications programme.

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Dun’s interest in the topic was sparked by Qatar’s recent efforts to encourage more young people, and women in particular, to take up sports. “As a communication researcher I’m interested in how they evaluate the role of the Arab media in women’s sports and how role models influence their sport participation,” she explained, adding that she aims to include 300 women respondents in her research, with 190 having taken part so far.

The larger of the two grants went to research that will “make sure that Qatari responses [to surveys] are understood in a contextual way that allows for accurate comparison with other countries in the region and world,” according to Jocelyn Mitchell, a lecturer in Political Science who is leading 10 students and three other faculty members – including one from Qatar University – on an exploration of the pitfalls of ‘universal’ surveys used by media professionals and social science researchers.

Women wishing to take part in Susan Dun’s survey on the barriers to female sports participation in Qatar can do so at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WomenPhysicalActivity.

source: Gulf Times