A Portrait of Low-Income Migrants in Contemporary Qatar

Abstract

This essay is about a review of an article. It begins by explaining how the author chose the article and how he located it. The method of the review of the article is also described. The author proceeds to describe the purpose of the article and the research questions used in the essay. The research method and the research design are also focused on with the author explaining the strengths and weaknesses of the designs. The meaning of the article is also discussed, the essay concludes with a statement of the author’s position on the low income migrant issues.

Introduction

I chose the article ‘Portrait of Low-Income Migrants in Contemporary Qatar’ since it deals with the issues that are real in the area. Unlike other articles, this article introduces the topic of research with background of the research. The article is well developed with ideas well clarified and with a systematic flow that do not require a reader to seek further explanation. I located the article during my regular article research in the on-line library. Its availability and simplicity in language is what led me to reviewing the article. The purpose of the review was to grasp the author’s ideas and logic. I did the review firstly by skimming through then deep reading. I did this keenly and efficiently while noting the important ideas that were described in the article. I also reviewed it by reading other reader’s reviews on the same articles.

Discussion

The purpose of this article was to inform the reader on the issue the migrants face while they work in Qatar. The article’s objective was to research on the real situation that the migrants live in. it does this by doing survey on the immigrants. The survey asks precise questions about the way they live, their income, living standards, country of origin and how they ended up in Qatar. These questions depict the portrait of the migrants in Qatar.

This article used several questions in order to meet its objectives. The first research question that was investigated was the basic characteristic of the low income earners in Qatar. This was done by visiting the migrants in camps where the situation was assessed. The second research question aimed at answering on how the migrants obtained work in Qatar. The final question aimed at assessing the roles of ethnicity, religion and nationality in determination of the various experiences the migrants faced while working in Qatar.

Research design is the method that is used in data collection during a research. It may involve observational, case studies or surveys. In this article, survey was the majorly exploited research design used. Members of staff were trained for a period of three days prior to the actual research. They were taught on how to conduct their research. They were deployed in the camps where the low income migrants resided. They conducted interviews. This type of data was qualitative since it was done on a sample group with similar research questions. Some major findings were that the employees work under harsh conditions. Their living standards are low. Most of the migrants also want to go back to their countries after some time.

The research design used in the article has some strengths and weaknesses. The design used sampled subjects directly. This is an advantage since tee search is able to access firsthand information about the migrants. This research skipped some migrant like the nannies, drivers and other workers working in homes or Qatar nationals. This is a drawback since the situation in the homes is not forth.

The article successfully acquaints the reader with the knowledge of the situation migrants are facing. The results of the research show that there is a serious problem facing the migrants. They are not comfortable working under the conditions. The validity question that I had when reading the questions is on the methodology. The reliability of the respondents during surveys is always in question. I agree with the conclusion of the article that the research on it provides a statistical framework and analysis of the portrait of the low income laborers in Qatar.

Conclusion

Low income migrants face rough times in Qatar. Most of the migrants would wish to go back to their countries after some time due to these deplorable conditions. The government of Qatar and other United Arab Emirates should fight for the rights of the migrants by encouraging them to get immigrant lawyers who would take them through legal procedures for them to get their full citizenship. The government should also amend the laws protecting the migrants since the old laws are more to making them slaves than promoting and guarding their rights.

Reference

BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Andrew Gardner et al (June 2013), Journal of Arabian Studies A Portrait of Low-Income Migrants in Contemporary Qatar 3.1 pp. 1 –17.