APPLIED PROJECT 2
Applied Project Proposal
· Description of the City
I did an internship as part of my course studies at the Municipality of Al Ain City. Al-Ain is considered a part of the capital city Abu Dhabi. However, Al Ain City is known as one of the calmest cities in the country. It has a high percentage of UAE citizens compared to other cities in the UAE. This city is established to have the largest number of houses for families; owning a huge mansion or house is something usual in Al Ain. Al Ain City is a city where most of the royal family members were born. For instance, HH Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President of the UAE, was born in Al Ain. The government strategies for Al Ain city are to make the city calm not busy such as other well-known cities like Abu Dhabi and Dubai. During the era of Sheikh Zayed, he established the rule of no high floor buildings should be in Al Ain to prevent crowd. Al Ain has the largest valley and oasis in the country. Agriculture in this city is attractive and the Municipality department members are really working hard to retain this feature in the city. Comment by Jesse Chanley: Do you have a source that reports this information? When you begin making empirical observations, it is good to provide sources.
· Description of the Internship Program
I was under the Strategic Research and Studies Department. The Strategic Research and Studies Department at the Municipality of Al Ain City is a well-known department in terms of retaining useful archives and research that discusses a variety of topics related to society and how to develop services that serve society. During our first meeting, we discussed various topics to build my internship report. Saif Alhallami, the supervisor, gave me chance to choose my topic that is related to the courses that I am taking throughout the semester. This helped me to apply the courses to my internship program. Since the internship program that I have attended is in the Strategic Research and Studies Department, topics are mainly common from what I am taking in my Integrative Social Science program. All topics shared different social issues and need critical thinking to overcome a certain social issue. In my topic, for example, the department and I had agreed about discussing income inequality in different nations and how to overcome this issue. Since we discussed this topic in my ISS 514 class, I am interested in discussing it during my internship program. In addition, ascertaining how the UAE has no income inequality? And how different nations would do to get rid of this social issue. The internship program team and I reached an idea that shows how the UAE has no income inequality and mentioned the main reasons behind that success, which help other societies and nations to be positively influenced by these principles that the UAE has to overcome income inequality. The internship involved various tasks that I was assigned under the department. For instance, I collected various resources for composing a report. After which we had a departmental meeting to ascertain the credibility of the resources. The head of the department looked into the various resources together with his team members and established the effectiveness of the resources. We also talked about the most recent principles of the 50th anniversary that establish effective lives for the community. For instance, I researched income inequality and wealth disparities and how one could prevent income inequality. Comment by Jesse Chanley: Comment by Jesse Chanley: What is your source for this statement? Are you including foreign workers? See https://borgenproject.org/poverty-in-the-united-arab-emirates/ or https://thearabweekly.com/middle-east-leads-world-income-inequality
I established a PowerPoint presentation concerning the final research to establish the knowledge I gained from the sources. I also met the departmental team to discuss the first draft during the time the Expo was taking place in the UAE. We discussed how Expo would be a positive event in the country considering job increases. I also helped ascertain how the UAE was changing with the first 50 years of its anniversary. I got all the work directions from Mahrah Aldarmaki. Saif Alhallami supervised all the work I did to ensure I did the right thing. I also compose and submitted the final report including all the current progress of the UAE from the time I submitted the draft report to the time it got approved. After the approval of the report, I met with the departmental team to discuss the credibility and effectiveness of the resources used in compiling the report as all the resources were from credible and reliable websites. Comment by Jesse Chanley: Do you have a copy that you can share with us? Comment by Jesse Chanley: Can you share this with us?
· Internship Program Site: Municipality of Al Ain City
· Department: Strategic Research and Studies Department
· Supervisor: Saif Alhallami
· Research Department Team Member: Mahrah Aldarmaki
· Research Topic: Income Inequality
· Website: www.dmt.gov.ae
Class #1: ISS 501 Advanced Integrated Social Research Method
Course Description: This course overviews the logics of causation and evidence evaluation in the social sciences. (ASU Course Catalog)
The class helped me gain effective life skills necessary for the internship which included critical thinking, time management, and assertiveness. Critical thinking was essential as it enhanced making the right decisions when handing research materials. Time management was essential as it minimized the loss of time. Time management skills helped me save time during my internship as I could plan activities and tackle them appropriately. It also helped me gain exposure which helped me work effectively during my internship since I developed effective communication skills that boosted my self-confidence. Effective communication also helped in passing and receiving essential information and data that aided my research and internship.
Class#2: ISS 512 Advanced Integrative Ethics in Social Science
Course Description: In this course we will study the various interactions between ethics and social science, with a focus on the real-world implications of these interactions at the level of policy construction. We begin with a philosophical study of ethical theory and its applications. There will be a particular focus on biomedical ethics. We then move into a consideration of the ways in which ethical concerns are of importance to practitioners of social science. Besides the ethics of social science research, we will also be interested in whether values of various sorts may enter into, or perhaps even be inextricably tied into, social science. Inasmuch as science is often thought of as value-free, there is a special question as to whether a science of the social can maintain freedom from value considerations. There are then questions of what social science may be able to tell us about our ethics, and in particular our meta-ethics. Finally, we tackle social questions related to all that we have covered so far, including issues surrounding the integration of social policy and academic theorizing. (ASU Course Catalog)
In this class, I learned various interactions between ethics and social sciences which helped me apply ethics during my internship about how my research was done. Ethics is essential in business and research as it ensures everything is done under the moral law. Ethics protects all stakeholders and research respondents from exploitation as it minimizes violation of laws. I also learned various theories and understood how ethics are essential to social science hence helping me develop effective relationships with others during my internship. Ethics establishes good relationships among individuals as they would strive to act in a fair and just manner. It was through ethics that I conducted my internship effectively and enhanced positive relationships in the organization.
Class#3: ISS 514 Culture Diversity and Gender Understanding
Course Description: Reviews the epistemological, theoretical and legal premises on the concept of social justice and the cultural, racial, ethnic, gender and other bases for the agitation for social justice, including strategies in pursuit of social justice. (ASU Course Catalog)
This class helped me understand how to select resources effectively hence I could find various sources for the internship materials without facing challenges. For instance, I gained the ability to trace the most essential and visible supreme court decisions including matters on social justice which was important to my internship. I also learned how to conduct presentations which helped me during the internship PowerPoint presentation. Gaining the ability to establish historical roots of agitation for social justice by race was also essential in writing the project and conducting my internship as it entailed research on various historical matters.
Class#4: ISS 518 Science, Technology, and Social Systems
Course Description:
One of the main themes of the study of science is the search for criteria of scientific rationality. Under what conditions, the question goes, is it rational to accept a particular scientific theory? (Note that this question might be generalized: Under what conditions is it rational to accept a particular statement or proposition? What does it mean to believe rationally?)
The first half of the 20th century was dominated by attempts to find empirical criteria of rational theory choice. Some argued that it was rational to accept only the theory best supported by the empirical evidence, i.e., the most verified theory. Others argued that it was rational to accept only the theory that had withstood the most severe empirical tests, i.e., the most falsifiable, but least falsified, theory.
However, significant cracks appeared in the empiricist program around the middle of the century. Those who studied science began paying more attention to social factors that might influence the acceptance of scientific theories. The pursuit of this line of reasoning led some theorists to the extreme claim that scientific knowledge is relative, i.e., that there are no criteria of rational theory choice. According to this view, scientific “facts” are not discovered, but constructed; there is no objective scientific truth, the acceptance of scientific theories ultimately depends on purely subjective factors.
As might be expected, many theorists more inclined to empiricism reacted against such claims.
This course explores the various traditions that argue for and against social interpretations of science.
(ASU Course Catalog)
I learned how to differentiate the social and non-social norms of science and technology hence during the internship I could separate these factors effectively when researching inequality. I also understood the difference between science and technology which helped me establish how to elaborate on various factors impacting wealth inequality in the United States during the internship. I learned about various traditions that argue for and against social interpretations of science. The distinction between science and pseudo-science was also established. I also established the differences between natural and social science which helped me establish effective resources for the internship.
Class#5: ISS 502 Dimensions of Social Science
Course Description: This course provides a foundation for understanding and analyzing social phenomena from an integrated perspective. You will acquire knowledge of the analytical tools of economics, political science, and sociology. You will learn how these tools relate to each other and how they can be integrated into an analytical approach superior for many purposes to the methods of the isolated social sciences. The focus is on applications of this integrative approach to pressing social problems of today and the future.
The course helped me ascertain how to effectively establish innovative solutions to challenges by applying various analytical tools of integrative social science. This helped me during the internship as I could effectively analyze the causes of wealth disparities and establish the most efficient ways to handle income inequality in the United States. I also had the opportunity to analyze the problems that arise at different levels of society hence effective in establishing the causes of wealth inequality in the United States of America.
Class #6: ISS 504 Advanced Integrative Theories of Social Science
Course Description: The course offers an integrative examination of major social science theories, such as rational choice theory, game-theory, environmentalism, institutionalism, functionalism, sociobiology, symbolic interaction, Marxism, Weberianism, democratic theory, and relational state formation. The emphasis is on bridging disciplinary boundaries and integrating theories and methods. (ASU Course Catalog)
I learned various social sciences theories including rational choice theory, game theory, environmentalism, and functionalism. The approaches were effective during my attachment as I could effectively establish good decisions during my research. I also learned how to apply various integrative theories to explain a particular phenomenon and establish solutions to problems in society. During the internship, I could establish the main causes of income inequality in the United States and ascertain how to combat the challenge.
Class #7: ISS 505 Advanced Methodologies in Social Sciences
Course Description: Applies advanced statistics and statistical modeling in decision making in social research, with emphasis on regression modeling techniques.