Methodology
To examine whether or not the Egyptian military supports and promotes the spread of western ideas into Egypt to maintain an iron grip on the nation and earn the acceptance of western nations, the researcher used quantitative sources in the form of survey on Google Forms and qualitative sources in the form of online interviews. Privacy rights of participants of both the survey and online interviews were carefully protected and were not violated in any form.
A survey with 13 multiple choice questions was a favored method for collecting data, as it was able to reach more participants in the intended categories of Egyptians aged mainly between 15- 26, as it also provided a close reflection of what those aged groups felt towards the intended subject of inquiry. The survey was designed in a comprehensive manner to allow youths from various backgrounds to participate. It was sent out to 102 participants thorough social media platforms such as Instagram posts and Rate AUC professors Facebook group. It was open for an entire week, so responses were accepted starting from the 11th to the 18th of November. It was answered by 64 participants, most of whom were undergraduate students from The American University in Cairo. Additionally, three online interviews were conducted. The first one interviewed a Senior Instructor in the Rhetoric and Composition Department at AUC and an Oxford University alumna, as per the request of the professor, his/her identity will not be shared. The interview focused on acquiring his/her expert opinion on the matter considering his/her wide exposure to the Egyptian culture and his/her professional positions. The second interview was conducted with Abdullah Sabah, a sophomore student majoring in Mechanical Engineering at AUC. Mr. Sabah is an active member of the Entrepreneur society at AUC and holds two CEO positions at two newly emerging enterprises, both of which interact greatly with the Egyptian youth. The third one was with a businessman and industrialist based in Egypt who, through his work, constantly interacts with skills and craftsmen. The interviews focused on the experts analysis of interviewees on the extent to which they feel western cultures have influenced the Egyptian one, how the military could be a driving factor for such influence, and whether this phenomenon was observed in other cultures or not. The interviews were concluded with recommendations from both interviewees to what possibly could help to protect the Egyptian culture against destructive forms of dominations.
Limitations
The researcher faced various limitations while collecting data. For instance, to ensure the health and safety of the participants, all interviews were conducted remotely instead of face to face. This posed great difficulty , as it was hard to coordinate online interviews with professors considering how busy they were with delivering online classes. Additionally, the survey originally targeted participants from a wide range of institutions to obtain results that could be generalized for all Egyptian youths. However, majority of participants were students from AUC.