Researching Human Action in Saudi Arabia: Adapting and Using the Qualitative Action-project Method

Abstract

Researchers working in various regions of the world, such as Saudi Arabia, where little joint research has been conducted on youth together with their families, tend to adopt theories and research methods with less than full transparency about how the researchers have adapted them.  In this article, we describe the action-project method, a qualitative research method for conducting research with particular application to unique and understudied cultural contexts. The method was used to describe the joint processes between parents and adolescents in a Saudi-Arabian sample.  It is based on a conceptualization of human behavior as process oriented, systemic phenomena in which context and culture are critical to an integrated understanding of the person.  The method uses a longitudinal design involving observations and interviews. The cultural application of this method to the study of transition-to-adulthood processes in Saudi Arabia is addressed, including its cultural appropriateness and the process of adapting and using it in Saudi Arabia.