Difficulties Experienced During the Fieldwork

The data collection during the fieldwork went as planned, but many difficulties were encountered during the process. These related to the climate, the government, the residents, data collection and drawing of plans for the Rubat buildings, transport to the Rubat sites, and some family pressures experienced by the researcher. Each of these areas will be explored in greater detail in the following section. First, with

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regard to the climate, the researcher undertook her research in Jeddah during the summer, when temperatures are in the region of 45C. This meant that there were times during the fieldwork when it was too hot for the researcher to conduct any research; therefore, the research was conducted mainly during early morning, late afternoon or the evening. During the fieldwork, there were also two incidents of flooding in Jeddah. Both caused damage in the study area and the researcher had to stop the fieldwork in order to help the relief effort, by providing assistance to those who had suffered damage to their homes and belongings.

The second area of difficulty for the researcher was working with the government in order to gain access to the Rubat buildings; for example, the researcher encountered some difficulties in finding the exact location of the Rubats from the information given by the Ministry. This is due to the way in which addresses are given in Saudi Arabia, without a number for the address, addresses include street name and local adjoining landmarks.

In addition, some Rubats did not display the building’s name on the outside, which made identification more difficult. This obstacle was a result of some residents not wishing it to be public knowledge that the building in which they lived was a Rubat.

A lot of protocol was required by government officials before access was granted to the researcher. This came in the form of completing forms and waiting for approval before conducting the interviews. There was also the added difficulty of arranging interviews with some Rubat co-sponsors, or even carrying them out in person due to the culture of gender separation; additional time was needed for the researcher to arrange appointments. The researcher called the Ministry of Waqfs on the telephone and made an appointment to meet at the male manager’s office. As the Ministry deals with women’s issues, it was possible for the researcher to meet with him in his office, with another man present. They discussed the situation in the Rubats and he asked her to return one week later to collect the completed questionnaire. The manager of Dar Al-Shakreen, which is located in the modern area, was willing to discuss the Rubats on the telephone with the researcher, and she administered the questionnaire while they talked. He was subsequently able to meet with the researcher

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in the street in front of the Rubat building in order to grant her permission to enter the Rubat and take photographs of the building.

After permission from the government had been sought and gained, organising the interviews themselves was very time-consuming. Multiple visits to the Rubats, to spend time speaking to the women who lived there, were required beforehand as part of Saudi social custom. This relationship-building had to occur before the researcher could start to ask the women questions about their lives in the Rubat. In addition to the multiple visits, the researcher had several wasted journeys to the Rubats as some of the residents were not available. Again, this impacted on the time taken for the research.

When given an opportunity to share with the researcher, the women were very emotional in communicating their experience of living in the Rubats and this, in turn, was emotionally draining for the researcher. ‘Research is a process of trying to gain a better understanding of the complexities of human interactions’ (Marshall and Rossman, 1995). This was apparent during this part of the research. There were some difficulties in contacting and communicating with some residents from other countries, who did not have a good command of Arabic.

The researcher tried to explain the questions in a simple way or to ask residents to translate for them. During the interviews, the researcher took notes in Arabic, which then needed to be translated into English. Moreover, some older residents had problems understanding the questions being asked, and asked for them to be repeated several times. This meant the interviews took much more time and greater effort on the part of the researcher.

As we can see from the difficulties faced during the interviews, the necessary data collection was conducted solely by the researcher. This made drawing the building plans of the Rubats more time-consuming. The pictures of the Rubat buildings were also taken by the researcher as part of the mixed-method approach to data collection; however, this was very tedious, and photographs could not be taken in Saudi society without advance permission.. Such permission, however, may not

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suffice as the researcher might also encounter problems with local residents who are unhappy with photographs being taken of their area.

Currently, women in Saudi Arabia are forbidden to drive themselves, which made it necessary to visit the Rubat sites with a male relative, usually the researcher’s brother. This meant that the researcher had to manage three timetables when planning visits to the Rubats; her own, her brother’s and those of the women residents. In Saudi Arabia, public transport is not widely available; therefore, a woman is reliant on a male relative or driver, to take her to places she wishes to go, a process which may involve extensive negotiation. The alternative is to take a taxi, but these are relatively expensive. Moreover, once in the area of the Rubats, which can be unsafe for a woman to travel to alone, there was the potential difficulty of finding a taxi for the return journey.

Some of the major difficulties faced in fieldwork were the lack of references and studies available about the Rubats and the lack of maps and plans for the buildings. In addition, very little data was available about the time of the establishment of the Rubats, and the source of funding for the building or the conversion of an existing structure into a Rubat. The researcher faced pressure from family members during the fieldwork, and she explained the limited time available in which to conduct the study. This pressure emerged because they had expected that the fieldwork visit would give them an opportunity to meet with the researcher and spend time with her.

Section 3.8 will explain the methodological steps followed to ensure reliability and validity of this research.

3.8 Methodological Steps for ensuring Reliability and Validity of this Research