An Exploratory KAP Survey of the Pilgrims on the Issue of Thronging Mount Arafaat:

This study reports findings of an exploratory KAP (knowledge, attitudes, & practices) survey of the pilgrims about visiting the Jabal al-Rahmah on the Hajj Day. The broad research question examined in the study was to determine what perceptions do the Hajj pilgrims hold about going to the Jabal area and why do they hold those perceptions. Data on this research question was collected from a non-probability sample of 500 pilgrims during the Hajj. Descriptive statistical techniques involving the use of such summary measures like means, standard deviations, correlation coefficients, and factor analysis revealed that going to the Jabal on the Hajj day, far from being a simple monolithic concept, might well be a complex conceptual continuum. The intermediate portion of this polar conceptual continuum of going and not going may be taken up by perceptual dynamics of information and attitudes, and risk perceptions. The religious scholars, the Ulema, seem to play a critical role in influencing the perceptual dynamics that result in the Hajj Day behavioral outcome of going or not going. Based on this, broad recommendations are made about the nature of messages (message content) to be used in a communication campaign of crowd management in the Jabal area.