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Appendices Adoption, Diffusion and Use of E-government
Hassan Al-Zaabi Services in Abu Dhabi Police Force
University of Hertfordshire
Business School
Application for Ethics Approval for Research
For official use only
Protocol Number
Date emailed to student
Where any research involves the use of human subjects there is always the possibility that the subjects may be exposed to
procedures, which may be harmful to them. These possibilities might include; exploitation, physical harm, emotional harm or
intrusion of their privacy. The University must ensure that these possibilities do not occur. This application form enables the
Ethics Committee to monitor your research so that it complies with the University of Hertfordshire ethical protocols.
It is important to note that you should not proceed with your research without clearance from the University. The assignment
for which the research is carried out will not be processed for examination without Ethics Committee approval.
Your application for ethical approval should be completed as early as is practicable whereupon you will be supplied with a
protocol number or referred to your supervisor. The above is an abridged version of the University‟s regulations regarding
“…studies involving the use of human subjects”. Please refer to UPR AS/A/2 for a full explanation.
SECTION A. THIS SECTION SHOULD BE COMPLETED BY ALL APPICANTS.
A1 Details
Name of Applicant: Hassan Al-Zaabi
Student Number (if appropriate): 5115377
UH Email address: h.alzaabi1@herts.ac.uk
Programme (if appropriate):
Name of Academic Supervisor: Dr Jyoti Choudrie
Proposed research title: A Cultural, E-Governance and ICTs aspect: The case of Abu Dhabi
Reasons for research Doctoral Thesis
If other please explain?
A2 Applicants‟ declaration
I confirm that I have read and understand that the instructions and guidelines for conducting research which accompanied this
form. Yes
A3 Is your research to be based solely on secondary information? No
If the answer to A3 above is YES, proceed to SECTION C. and certify the declaration. If the answer is NO, complete
the rest of the application, and then certify the declaration.
SECTION B: ONLY COMPLETE THIS SECTION IF YOU ARE CONDUCTING PRIMARY RESEARCH
B1 DESCRIPTION OF STUDY
Briefly describe the study: E-government is assisting governments to save costs in administration and improve accountability
and transparency (UN report, 2008).To obtain the required e-government changes, e-governance, which is associated with the
process changes needed to bring about e-government changes is needed. The UN report (2008) found most developing
countries are still struggling with E-government implementation. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) located in the Middle East
region, a leading developing country is also aware of the various changes occurring in the relationship between citizens and
government due to Information Systems. However, this stage of transformation faces many obstacles such as cultural issues,
not experienced staff, and resistance from citizens and staff in different organisations (Hesson, 2007). The aim of this research
is to examine E-Governance initiatives in a developing country. To achieve this, there will be an examination of the cultural
aspects and Business Process Changes that are obtained by implementing an electronic system in a public sector organisation
(some departments of Abu Dhabi Police) of a developing country. The researcher will form two pilot questionnaires (soft
copy) and will disseminate the questionnaire amongst 10 experts. One version will be for citizens and the other will be for the
organisational perspective. Once results will be obtained, preparation of the final questionnaire will occur and the research
will use both hard and soft copies for the questionnaire. These will disseminated amongst 1000-1500 participants
(approximately). For this, participants will be sought from citizens of Abu Dhabi and staff in Abu Dhabi Police.
Note: The researcher will declare that he is a policeofficer and a PhD student at University of Hertfordshire. Further, an
introductory letter will be sent out to the citizens of Abu Dhabi and staff in Abu Dhabi Police. Researcher will take
photographs of some facilities in Abu Dhabi police such as, computer servers and posters, however, participants will not be
photographed. The researcher will also wear his student identity card at all times. The researcher is still in his first year so the
questionnaire will be developed at a later stage (end of this year).
References:
Hesson, M. (2007) „Business process reengineering in UAE public sector: A naturalization and residency case study‟.
Business Process Management Journal. 13(5) pp. 707-727.
United Nations Report (2008) „UN E-Government Survey 2008: From E-Government to Connected Governance‟. ISBN 978 -
92-1-123174-8, UN White paper [Online]. Available at:
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/UN/UNPAN028607.pdf [Accessed: 06 October, 2009].
B2 INFORMED CONSENT
This is a process whereby a participant voluntarily agrees to willingly participate in a piece of research once they have been
fully informed of what it entails and its purpose. The Applicants should give details of the purpose of the research and how
long an interview/ questionnaire will take. Further, the participant should be assured of anonymity and informed that they can
University of Hertfordshire 2013 Page 258