Introduction
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS, burst into the world in 2014 and instantly captured vast lands of Iraq and Syria, killed Western prisoners and declared itself as a pan-Islamic caliphate. Control of two nations and the brutal killing of many innocents is a rising social problem, and many researchers and scholars are trying to figure out the factors that lead to the emergence and expansion of ISIS followers. In research titled ISIS and Recruitment, the scholars tried to build an understanding of how ISIS recruits and what factors like demography, age, sex, and religion facilitate the recruitment (Tse, 2016).
ISIS grew rapidly because of various reasons, like the belief of many Muslims that the Islam of Abu Bakar Baghdadi is the true form of Islam, and this is the reason that they support the pan-Islamic caliphate. ISIS forces recruit many young women from the West, which is quite surprising. The reason why young women are attracted to ISIS is that these women are tempted towards a decent and moral life. This shows that age and gender are prominent factors that contribute to ISIS recruitment. In the first year of ISIS, more than 550 Muslim women from the West went to Iraq and Syria (Perešin, 2015). The followers of ISIS spread their propaganda through social media and print media. It is very difficult to tell about how far they have excelled in spreading their propaganda through print and social media. Unemployment is also a factor which lures young men and women to today’s ISIS. Young men who are unsatisfied with the negativities of life are enticed by giving them an image of heaven in which fighters of ISIS are living. Factors like demography and the need for an adventure. A promise of a better life is one of the few reasons which are prominent factors contributing towards the increase in the number of ISIS fighters. It is hard for the government, as well as Nato forces, to combat this issue.
So, it can be concluded that the increase in the number of ISIS followers is because more and more young people are getting attracted towards the ideal life they are portraying.
Research Methodology
In order to make my argument credible, it is important to know what young people think about ISIS and what their general perception of it is. Whether they have come across publications by ISIS? If yes, then where and how? It is also essential to know about their level of satisfaction with life and if there is a possibility that they will go for a life as promised by ISIS. For this reason, I will use quantitative research methodology. This methodology emphasizes arithmetical analysis of data collected through questionnaires, surveys and polls. It also sometimes uses pre-existing data for analysis. (Neuman & Robson, 2014). Using this methodology, I will conduct surveys of different universities and high schools. The main objective of my survey is to understand the attitudes and behaviours of young people towards ISIS. This survey will also focus on how much young people in the USA know about ISIS and how often they come across the material published by ISIS to attract youngsters for recruitment.
I will use simple random sampling for my research, and my target population will be young boys and girls. The sampling size will be 25 to 30. Tools of Questionnaires and group discussions will be used. The questionnaire will contain simple, closed, open-ended questions that will cover the objectives of my research completely. The main focus of the group discussion will be on the interest of young people in ISIS. For my research, one survey will be sufficient. The questionnaire will cover all the essential parts required to develop a basic understanding of the beliefs of young people towards ISIS, and group discussions will help me get an in-depth view of their thinking. I will get statistical data through a questionnaire and qualitative data through discussions.
Data Analysis
In order to analysis my data I will use descriptive statistic method to analyze statistical data from questionnaire. This technique summarizes a collection of information in different categories. For my questionnaire, this technique is most suitable because descriptive statistics are present when analyzing the data using this method (Vogt, 2007). The descriptive statistics method is straightforward forward, and the results obtained from it are very accurate and reliable. This is because, in this method, one is only describing the people and their relationship with variables. It is also important to read the results as the statistical data is reduced to a few lines of summary and some graphs. My variables for this research will be age and education and their relationship with the perception of young people towards ISIS. For data analysis obtained from the group discussion, I will use content analysis and interfere with the basic points and ideas from the group discussion.
My units for analysis will be young people from the USA who are studying in high schools and universities and belong to different social, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. I will select young people because it has been observed that the number of youngsters in ISIS is increasing day by day, and it is very important to know the reason for that (Callimachi, 2015). It is a worrying situation which should be solved as soon as possible, and my study will be helpful in highlighting the reasons for the increasing number of ISIS followers.
