2012: Fabrication or Reality

2012: Fabrication and Reality

By

SYED WAJAHAT ALI
FARAZ UL HAQ
UMAIR SHAHID
MOHAMMAD HARIS SHEIKH
ASAD ESSA
KHAWAJA FAREED

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Statement of problem
To explain the 2012 phenomenon explicitly to the general audience and to dig the archives of renowned scholars to explain what will be the implication and ultimately the conclusion of this event.

1.2 Statement of the Hypothesis
The primary research questions and hypothesis for this study will be:
1. What are emotional factors and reactions involved with 2012?
2. What are the religious factors that people associate with 2012?
3. Is there a significant relationship between 2012 and the human psyche?
4. What is the general opinion of our sample audience about 2012?
5. The frequency of involvement of people in 2012 and related topics.
6. What is the level of awareness of people about 2012?
7. The degree to which people agree/disagree with 2012.






3. METHODOLOGY
3.1 Purpose and research questions
On the course of our primary research that we conducted for this report via interviews and questionnaires, we stumbled upon some startling facts. The fact was that almost every person was aware of 2012 phenomenon superficially but when we asked them the reason for accepting or discarding 2012, almost all the people failed to answer that question saying that they don’t have the facts. This off course meant that they have been denying and some accepting the 2012 phenomenon without any concrete evidence about it.
It was this unanticipated fact that motivated us to explain to general audience the merit and demerit of each theory to build a better understanding among them so that they may be saved from being exploited both emotionally and economically in the name of 2012 as many have been in the past decade. By knowing the actual facts, they will be able to build their own stance at the same time help those around them from being deceived.
The primary research questions and hypothesis for this study will be:
1. What are emotional factors and reactions involved with 2012?
2. What are the religious factors that people associate with 2012?
3. Is there a significant relationship between 2012 and the human psyche?
4. What is the general opinion of our sample audience about 2012?
5. The frequency of involvement of people in 2012 and related topics.
6. What is the level of awareness of people about 2012?
7. The degree to which people agree/disagree with 2012.

3.2 Population and sampling
The population we targeted was that of IQRA UNIVERSITY which included students of BBA, MBA, MEDIA SCIENCE and ENGINEERING. The research used Random sampling. Out of the 10,000 or so students currently studying at IQRA UNIVERSITY, our sampling consisted of 50 students. We talked to these 50 students and asked them questions that we will include at the end of the report. We have included 10 questionnaires as a sample in this report.

The sample for this research can be defined as individuals both male/female with in the age limit of 20-25 years, all belonging to urban areas and all had heard about 2012 phenomenon. The sample audience belonged to educated families and were continuing there education at IQRA UNIVERSITY.

3.3 Instrumentation
The instrument that we used in this research report was semi structured questionnaire which were designed by us whose content reflected the research objectives at the same time complimenting our research purpose.

We have included the filled questionnaires that we collected from our sample audience in this report for further reading.

3.4 Procedure and time frame
The research was initiated on 27th February 2010 and it was completed on 28th April 2010 during which a series of interviews and questions were asked to the sample audience.

3.5 Analysis plan
Since the research instrument of ours was a semi structured questionnaire, a thematic analysis will be used to analyze the collected data. The second method that will be exploited during the analysis process is content comparative method.

3.6 Validity and reliability
We used the Content validity technique to make sure that our data was valid. The questionnaire was made after consulting the faculty members of the research subjects and also our research subject teacher Dr.Khalid Jameel Rawat and Najmun Nisa.
The reliability of our data was tested by correlation process. In this process we asked the same question with slightly different wording in different parts of the survey. The correlation between the items was perfect and hence we concluded that the data we collected was reliable.

3.7 Assumptions
The assumptions that we made are as following:
· The sample audience represents the actual population that we targeted.
· The sample audience answered the questions honestly and without any bias.
· The instruments we used were reliable and valid.
· The data we collected we collected can be generalized over the entire population.


3.8 Scope and limitations
The limitations are as follow:
The sample audience was a fraction compared to the actual population due to the time constraint.
Some interviews with experts were cancelled due to budget constraints.
The data analyzed was had its limitations as all the data could not be analyzed.
The human error was a great limitation because considering the nature of the research, no computer software was used.
The sample audience we interviewed did not have extensive and in depth knowledge about the topic 2012.
Due to budget and time constrained, we were limited to IQRA UNIVERSITY only.

4. DATA ANALYSIS
4.1 Result
The analysis of the data was done using thematic analysis and qualitative method was used. The questions were group in topics and themes and the following results were achieved due to our research:

4.2 People perception about 2012
The analysis of the questionnaire and the data we collected from our sample audience is that most an overwhelming majority perceives 2012 as something of a myth rather than a reality and there reason behind this is there religion. Almost all say that there religion says nothing about 2012 so they are inclined to believe that 2012 is a myth.

4.3 Effect of the prediction on people’s life
Even though in this report we outlined several doomsday theories about the earth coming to a apocalyptic end while prehistoric planets crashing in on earth, the people even though exposed to these theories seems to have little interest in them and explicitly mention them as being hoax. However, when asked about there sources and reasons for not accepting, they either wade of the question or simple say that they have not done their own research to answer that question.

4.4 Source of research for 2012
This was perhaps the most significant question that we asked from our sample audience and the results were not surprising at all, in fact they were almost anticipated. A resounding 100% maintained that internet is a primary source of there research regarding 2012 and that wikipedia is there base camp. They maintain that they usually use websites like wikipedia and infomania to know about different 2012 related topics if they desire but at the same time they maintain that they only skim read the content to get a basic idea.

4.5 The level of awareness
The level of awareness among people is a paradox. While all members of the sample audience maintained that they were aware of 2012, but when we asked them to explain any one particular theory in detail, almost all the sample audience got confused and started to mix one theory with the other and ended making their new theory. This goes to show that even though 2012 is such a hot topic of discussion these days, very few actually bother to do their own objective research to find out the facts and an overwhelming majority simple rely on word of mouth while picking up fragments from one place and another to facilitate their minds for the time beings without digging deep.

4.6 The psychological effect of 2012
It became quite apparent in this part of the questionnaire that people are psychologically effected by 2012.A example is that everyone we interviewed and question seems to relate 2012 to the destruction of the world and apocalypse yet apocalypse is just a part of the 2012 phenomenon. One can safely conclude on the basis of this analysis that the movie “2012” played a pivotal part in inducing the apocalypse theory in people’s subconscious and triggering a psychological effect. There were people from our sample group who were concerned about 2012 however a huge majority said otherwise but the psychological impact of 2012 was obvious among the entire sample audience.


4.7 The level of interest in 2012
Through the course of this research, it became quite apparent that people do take a keen interest in this topic 2012.However it was also reveled on the analysis of several questions that people do only superficial research which is quite dangerous in a sense that little knowledge is dangerous than ignorance. The probability of being mislead increases and they become quite expose to exploitation.


CONCLUSION
The research that we took was an exhausting and no doubt required an extensive research .It is based on the date we collected using questionnaires and interviews that we came to know about the actual level of awareness of the population.

After the analysis of the date the results can be summarized in the following way.

People are psychologically effected by 2012.A paradigm is that each person we interviewed and questioned seems to narrate 2012 to the devastation of the world and apocalypse yet end of the world is just a part of the 2012 phenomenon. We can securely conclude on the basis of this analysis that the movie “2012” played a pivotal part in inducing the apocalypse theory in people’s subconscious and triggering a psychological effect. There were people from our sample group who were concerned about 2012 however a huge majority said otherwise but the psychological impact of 2012 was obvious among the entire sample audience.

The examination of the questionnaire and the data we collected from our sample audience is that a vast majority perceives 2012 as something of a myth rather than a reality and there reason behind this is there religion. Almost all say that there religion says nothing about 2012 so they are inclined to believe that 2012 is a myth. This shows the religious supremacy over their intellectual mind. They wade off 2012 on the basis of their religion without investigating from themselves.Through the course of this research, it became quite apparent that people do take a keen interest in this topic 2012.However it was also reveled on the analysis of several questions that people do only superficial research which is quite dangerous in a sense that little knowledge is dangerous than ignorance. The probability of being mislead increases and they become quite expose to exploitation.

The level of awareness among people is a paradox. While all members of the sample audience maintained that they were aware of 2012, but when we asked them to explain any one particular theory in detail, almost all the sample audience got confused and started to mix one theory with the other and ended making their new theory. This goes to show that even though 2012 is such a hot topic of discussion these days, very few actually bother to do their own objective research to find out the facts and an overwhelming majority simple rely on word of mouth while picking up fragments from one place and another to facilitate their minds for the time beings without digging deep.

The most noteworthy question that we asked from our sample audience was that of there source about 2012 and the results were not surprising at all, in fact they were almost anticipated. A resounding 100% maintained that internet is a primary source of there research regarding 2012 and that wikipedia is there base camp. They uphold that they generally use websites like wikipedia and google to be acquainted with different 2012 associated topics if they desire but at the same time they maintain that they only skim read the content to get a basic idea.This shows explicitly that people are more concerned with getting superficial information regarding 2012 so that they may talk to their friends about it rather than an extensive research to stop people from being deceived.
Even though in this report we outlined several doomsday theories about the earth coming to a apocalyptic end while prehistoric planets crashing in on earth, the people even though exposed to these theories seems to have little interest in them and explicitly mention them as being hoax. However, when asked about there sources and reasons for not accepting, they either wade of the question or simple say that they have not done their own research to answer that question. This ultimately suggests that a majority of the people never bother to actually dot their own research instead relying solely on the word of mouth of friends and go for sensationalism rather than concrete facts.

Also an important fact that appeared during the research is that all the theories regarding 2012 phenomenon that we investigated, there were multiple flaws in them that we exposed.This ultimately show you the credibility and

RECOMMENDATIONS

The following recommendation should be taken into account:
As someone great once said “Trust no one”. So is here.There is much data floating out here, therefore you need to o your own research without actually going for word of mouth since 9 times out of 10, it deceives
The authenticity of the date should be kept into consideration while research is underway so that you may have concrete evidence to support what you are saying.
Many people are being economically exploited , therefore having a sound research not only saves us from being exploited , but also those around us since we can educate them to stop them being deceived.











APPENDIX

The following instrument was used as research tool and we have sample questionnaire through which we collected much of the information about our sample audience.

Questionnaire

When was the first time you heard about 2012 and from where?

Did you do your own research about 2012?

From whom do you usually talk about 2012?

How often do you involve yourself in the discussions about 2012?

How often do you think about 2012 when you are alone?

Do you spend sometimes on the internet surfing about 2012?

Do you believe that 2012 will be the end of the world as we know it?

Do you feel any shift in your emotion when you talk about 2012?

Have you seen the movie 2012?

What is your opinion about the people who believe in 2012?

If you don’t believe that 2012 will be apocalyptic, what reason can you give to justify that?

If for the sake of argument it is confirmed that 2012 will be the end of time, what will be your first reaction?

Do you believe that 2012 is a fabrication or a deception?

There is a theory about 2012 which says that the world is not going to end but it will be a beginning of a new mind set for humans and the birth of a new mind. Do you consider this theory credible?

Don’t you think that 2012 is a good idea to get people together to do good deeds just because of the fear of the end of time?









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