The Level of Early Awareness of the Pandemic Effects Among Arab Students in Turkey: A Qualitative Study

This chapter focuses on assessing the awareness levels of Arab students during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It delves into the perceptions of Arab students regarding how the pandemic affected their personal lives, academic endeavors, local communities, and the global context. The chapter employs an inductive approach and qualitative methodology, employing manual coding based on the Grounded Theory method, which involves three coding stages (open, axial, and selective). The data is collected through semi-structured interviews (SSIs), guided by a descriptive-interpretive typology. The chapter involved a convenient sample of 55 SSIs with Arab students in Turkey, conducted through face-to-face meetings, telephone conversations, and Google Meet sessions. The analysis of the data using the Grounded Theory method uncovered intricate connections between the pandemic and various aspects of life, including global climate, online activities, personal lifestyles, world peace, tourism, global economy, family and society, mental health, specific economic sectors, business models, professional and educational positions, and public health. The findings have led to the identification of categories and themes that serve as a basis for creating a questionnaire that should be designed to facilitate a deductive and quantitative study, offering quantitative insights into the pandemic’s impacts on such communities.