Overview
Goals and Objectives
Highlights
Publications
The RIHSS proposes to establish a new center for Public Opinion Polls to serve our community, as well as other stakeholders across the University of Sharjah and across the UAE in collaboration with Sharjah Executive Council.
The center is expected to fill a much-needed gap in knowledge production about public opinion, and therefore, it is anticipated to build a future base of users across the GCC states and the whole Arab region.
The center builds on the success of the RIHSS, which has an exceptional research team consisting of experts in economics, law, media, sociology, education and Sharia. The RIHSS has an outstanding track record in partnerships with several institutes in the UAE to conduct research projects that have directly influenced their future strategies and programs.
Vision
Leadership in the field of polling studies and measuring public opinion with a high degree of professionalism to address societal challenges and foresee future development.
Mission
- Providing a platform for individuals in the UAE and the region to measure and analyze recent trends and behaviors. The Center is committed to improving the practices of survey research, enhancing public opinion polling, and providing a valuable scientific resource for this purpose.
- Supporting governmental and non-governmental institutions in making decisions that serve the community with a high degree of social responsibility by measuring public opinion and conducting polls in diverse fields.
Objectives
The center will promote Arab knowledge production based on data generated within the region. It will provide decision-makers in various institutions with valuable insights and data that can help them create effective plans, strategies, and policies based on scientific analysis and surveys. It will also encourage participation from members of society to ensure that decisions are made in the best interest of the public and the state.
The center will have the following aims:
- Identify the attitudes of community members towards various issues in society through polling.
- Providing decision-makers in various institutions with results and recommendations that help them in their strategic planning.
- Supporting decision-making process based on accurate assessment via polling.
- Foreseeing future changes in the society and preparing in advance to address them.
- Monitoring societal, psychological, educational, economic, health, and cultural needs and highlighting priority themes in each area.
- Monitoring and analyzing social participation including that on social media platforms.
- Building and updating a database of opinion polls to provide a scientific and statistical reference for decision-makers.
- Strengthening the relationship and trust between members of society and institutions.
- Providing consultancy and ad hoc opinion polling services to the private sector.
- Providing an integrated database of local and national samples for use in subsequent surveys.
The center is designed to conduct research that aligns with the university's research interests and to provide paid services to the community as follows:
Examples of Research Areas:
Social Attitudes and Trends: Studying societal attitudes towards various social issues such as gender equality, social justice, cultural diversity, and immigration policies, to understand evolving social norms and values in Sharjah and the broader region.
Psychological Well-being: Examining public perceptions and attitudes towards mental health, stress factors, coping mechanisms, and access to mental health services to inform policies aimed at promoting psychological well-being in the community.
Education Policies and Practices: Investigating public opinion on education systems, curriculum reforms, teaching methodologies, and access to quality education to identify areas for improvement and inform evidence-based educational policies.
Economic Sentiment Analysis: Analyzing public sentiment towards economic policies, job opportunities, income inequality, entrepreneurship, and financial stability to gauge economic confidence and identify areas for economic development initiatives.
Healthcare Access and Perception: Assessing public perceptions of healthcare services, healthcare affordability, preventive healthcare measures, and attitudes towards healthcare innovations to guide healthcare policymaking and improve healthcare access and quality.
Cultural Heritage and Identity: Exploring public attitudes towards cultural preservation, heritage conservation, cultural diversity, and identity formation to support cultural policies that promote inclusivity and celebrate cultural heritage.
Environmental Concerns and Sustainability: Investigating public awareness, attitudes, and behaviors towards environmental conservation, climate change mitigation, sustainable development, and green initiatives to inform environmental policies and initiatives.
Governance and Public Policy: Monitoring public trust in government institutions, satisfaction with public services, civic engagement, and perceptions of democracy to support evidence-based decision-making and governance reforms.
These research areas align with the center's objectives of monitoring and measuring public opinion and attitudes toward various topics relevant to Sharjah, the UAE, and the wider region to support decision-makers.
Examples of Services Offered to Community and Stakeholders
- Annual surveys of social values and youth attitudes.
- Opinion polls to measure audience engagement with media content
- Polls to gauge reactions to new products
- Polls to measure users’ engagement with new computing interfaces and services
- Survey to measure ad hoc questions such as people’s interpretation of a new governmental service, a new app, a new product, or a certain campaign
- National polling
- Strategy and analysis for Ministries.
- Brand tracking
- Secondary data analysis for institutions.