CHP 07 Data Collection

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CHAPTER 7: RESEARCH DESIGN AND DATA COLLECTION

“So ask the learned if you do not know”
(A
Al-Qur’an 16:43)
7.0 INTRODUCTION
Research data may be categorised as primary and secondary data. Primary data are
data generated by the researcher using data gathering techniques, some of which
will be discussed below. Secondary data are those that have been generated by
others and are included in data-sets, case materials, computer or manual databases
or published by various private (e.g. Annual Reports of companies) and public
organisations or government departments (official statistics by the Statistical Office).
International Organisations such the International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank and the United Nations and Islamic Conference Organisations publish
economic statistics of member countries or on a worldwide basis.
In this research primary data collected by the researcher are used. As discussed in
Chapter 2, one way of extending knowledge in Islam is to ask those who are
knowledgeable in the field and to seek their consensus (ijma). Asking people who
know is a Qur’anic imperative (Al-Qur’an, 16:43). There is a dearth of empirical work
in Islamic accounting research. Doubts have also been expressed, in view of the
economic and political situation and apparent unethical behaviour of the Muslim
world, whether there is an Islamic ethos among the Muslims at all. If these doubts
were true, especially amongst the educated and professional groups such as
accountants, the whole exercise would be merely theoretical. In the event, extending
Briloff’s quote (Gambling & Karim, 1991), time would be better spent developing
accountants with Islamic principles rather than developing Islamic accounting
principles. There is therefore the need to gather primary data, which is done in this
research.
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This chapter proceeds as follows: In the next section (section 7.1), data gathering
techniques and methodology are discussed in general followed by specific data
gathering techniques. The reasons for the methods chosen in this project are given in
Section 7.2 along with the reasons for the choice of the research environment. This is
followed in section 7.3 by a discussion of: the construction of the primary research
instrument used in this project - the Islamic Accounting Questionnaire, the
characteristics of the population and sample surveyed, and the problems
encountered during the survey. This is followed in section 7.4 and section 7.5 by a
discussion on the construction of the second and third questionnaires respectively.
These are the finance and the non-finance personnel questionnaire on the
behavioural consequences of conventional accounting. This chapter is concluded in
section 7.6.
7.1 DATA GATHERING TECHNIQUES: MATCHING METHODOLOGY AND

METHODS.
Research data may be collected in various ways. Some of these methods depend on
the methodology and the theoretical assumptions used in the research. There is a
tendency for researchers in the functionalist, positivist paradigm to collect hard
objective numbers e.g. Share prices, accounting numbers etc by observation,
experimentation, extraction from published sources, questionnaires and structured
interviews. They emphasise quantitative techniques over qualitative methods.
“Softer” humanistic researchers in the interpretative and radical humanist paradigms
use the latter generally.
Although purists in either paradigms stick to their own methods, it is not a case of
‘neither the Twain shall meet’ as researchers have been encouraged to mix and
match (Tomkins & Groves, 1983). This researcher has followed this route.
Further, “ triangulation”- a notion introduced from military studies by Denzin (1978)
(as quoted by Tomkin & Groves, 1983), has been suggested as a way to make
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research studies more robust and rigorous by verifying results through different
methods, thus ensuring that the results are not a function of the research method.
The theoretical paradigm adopted by the researcher as explained in Chapter 5
(Section 5.3.5) is the ‘Islamic’ paradigm, which is a spiritual extension of a middle
position of the subjective/objective dimension divide and towards an interpretive
approach. For this paradigm, long-term participant observation in an organisational
setting, multi-stage interviews and case studies would be appropriate data collection
methods. However the researcher has chosen to use questionnaires because of the
difficulties in obtaining access to organisations and more specifically, to obtain
evidence of consensus among the respondents on Islamic Accounting issues. A
short description of data gathering techniques used in this project is given next.
7.1.1 Questionnaires and the survey method
Questionnaires have, according to Sharp & Howard (1996, p 145), “over the past
century, become a common method of gathering information.” It can be defined as
“a pre-formulated written set of questions to which participants record their answers,
usually within largely closely defined alternatives.” (Sekaran, 1992, p 200). In the
USA, the term “Survey” is used for this data collection method (Nachmias &
Nachmias, 1996, p224). Creswell (1994) informs us that a survey design - through
the data collection process of asking questions, provides a quantitative or numeric
description of some fraction of the population i.e. a sample which can be in turn
generalised to the population from which the sample was drawn.
In general, questionnaires are useful, where the researcher cannot observe the
phenomenon directly or is impractical to do so. It allows the researcher to reconstruct
the phenomena through the experience and perceptions of the participants who have
observed the phenomena (Nachmias & Nachmias, p 224). In addition, certain
research including the present one, intends to elicit the thoughts and perceptions of
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people who have certain qualities e.g. education, experience, situation in life etc. who
have the knowledge and also the ability to precipitate changes in their environment.
Questionnaires can also be divided into perception and factual questionnaires (see
for example, Mahmud, 1997), although this division involves ontological positions
which are not acceptable to some academics. Perception questions ask questions
concerning the feelings, thought, knowledge and opinion of participants, which are
quite subjective. Factual questions ask questions of fact. Even in perception
questionnaire, there is usually a ‘personal details’ section, which is factual.
Questionnaires can also be categorised by the method of delivery i.e. Postal
Questionnaire, Personally Administered Questionnaire and telephone and its recent
extension - emailed questionnaires. In the researcher’s opinion, the main advantages
of these methods are structure and timeliness.
Although questionnaires can be both open ended or closed ended, both types
provide structure to the process of data collection, the closed ended one being more
specific and less prone to verbosity and interpretation than the open ended
questionnaire. As compared to participant or process observation, where only
general points can be watched for, the questionnaire structures the data and makes it
easier for later analysis especially when nominal or ordinal scales are used to
capture data. These can be used in computerised statistical analysis, which makes
the research more robust and rigorous especially in the light of positivists.
The timeliness of data gathering is another feature especially of postal or telephone
questionnaire surveys. Controlling for the response rate, more data can be collected
in a shorter period of time by using questionnaires than by interviewing sequentially
or observing over long periods of time.
7.1.2 Postal Questionnaires
In this process, the questionnaires are mailed to the sample participants, usually with
a pre-paid self-addressed envelope to encourage response. A large geographical

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area can be covered quickly and cheaply by this method. It is also very timely, as
many questionnaires are being answered in parallel. This can be contrasted to a
situation where the researcher would have to sequentially administer questionnaires
or interviews. This enables a larger sample to be obtained in a short space of time.
Although in theory the researcher could employ an army of interviewers to administer
questionnaires, this is a costly affair and is not practical for a PhD project. In terms of
reliability, posting questionnaires avoid accusations of incorporating researcher bias
as compared to administered questionnaires.
Another advantage is greater anonymity due to the absence of the interviewer,
especially when sensitive questions are asked, e.g. ethical practices. “People in the
sample are more likely to respond to sensitive questions when they do not have to
face an interviewer or speak to someone directly” (Sekaran, 1992, p225).
In this particular research, the identity of the individual members of the Malaysian
Institute of Accountants to whom the questionnaires were posted was kept
confidential by the institute. Many participants did not disclose their addresses and
names in the questionnaires. For the questionnaires which were handed out to the
working MBA students, many did not want to identify their organisation, perhaps to
avoid accusations of disloyalty, as they had to respond to questions on the behaviour
of their managers and companies,. Hence anonymity has been important for many
participants in this research.
Finally, questions requiring considered answers (as in the case of the Islamic
Accounting Questionnaire used in this research) are better mailed to enable the
participants to give some thought to the questions. In this research, some academics
did not give back the questionnaires immediately, as they wanted to think about the
issues for a few days. Where the questionnaires were administered, the participants
spent considerable time answering the questionnaires often debating points with the
researcher, sometime as much as two hours for what would have taken 30 minutes,
if the answers were not given much thought.

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The negative side to postal questionnaires is that the response rate is usually small
which requires a second or even a third mailing. The ever increasing number of
research and posting of junk mail means that many questionnaires end up straight in
the dustbin. A further more important disadvantage of this method is that different
participants may interpret the questions differently and certain questions can be
completely misunderstood by many or all of the participants. To avoid this problem,
questions would have to be simple (see for example, Mahmud, 1997 listing variables
in his perception questionnaire). In this research, however, it was very difficult to
keep the questions simple, especially for the Islamic Accounting Questionnaire and
this may have affected the understanding and interpretation of some of the
questions. Another problem associated with this questionnaire is the language ability
of the participants especially if a foreign language such as English is used in
countries where English is not the native tongue of the participants. Again the
researcher faced this problem in the case of the non-finance behavioural
questionnaires sent to personnel of the Islamic business organisations visited due to
their lower education and English proficiency.
7.1.3 Personally Administered Questionnaires
Here, the researcher personally administers the questionnaire to the participants,
usually at the participants’ workplace or residence. This has the advantage of a faster
response, as the researcher and his team can get the questionnaires completed
quickly as compared to the postal method, where the participant might postpone
filling up or returning the questionnaire. This method is especially suitable, where the
researcher can get the participants and /or his organisation to co-operate to allow the
researcher access, in a survey confined to a local area.
Advantages of this method include: (i) doubts regarding the meaning of the questions
can be clarified to ensure that the participant is answering the questions in the sense
that the researcher intended, (ii) the importance of the research can be personally
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presented to the participants and its significance explained to them to motivate
honest answers by emphasising their contribution to the research, (iii) it requires
fewer skills than interviewing, and hence relatively low skilled assistants can be
recruited to perform this task to speed up the research, and (iv) it ensures better
response rates because there is a ‘personal face’ to the questionnaires as personal
persuasion usually increases interest.
The main disadvantage seems to be that the researcher may introduce his personal
bias by giving facial or verbal expressions, which may put the participant at unease.
Further in explaining questions differently to different people, participants may be in
fact answering different questions as compared to those whom the questionnaire was
mailed.
7.1.4 Interviews
7.1.4.1 Definition:
Nachmias & Nachmias (1996,) defines an interview as a “face-to-face, interpersonal
role situation in which an interviewer asks participants questions designed to elicit
answers pertinent to the research hypotheses” (p 232). However, Sekaran (1992)
reminds us that interviews need not be face-to-face as it can be conducted through
the telephone or can even be computer assisted.
7.1.4.2 Classification of Interviews
Interviews can be classified as structured or unstructured (or non-directive interview)
although Nachmias & Nachmias (1996) identifies a third category- the focused
interview , which is a variation of the structured interview. In the structured interview,
the format is more rigid and assumes that the researcher knows exactly what
information is needed and has a list of pre-determined questions he intends to ask of
the participants. The same questions are administered to every interviewee, although
in certain cases depending on the circumstances or participants’ answers, the

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researcher may elicit additional information by asking additional questions not on his
schedule. “Through this process new factors might be identified and a deeper
understanding might result” (Sekaran 1992, p 192).
In the nonstructured or non-directive interview, the researcher does not have a
schedule listing a set of pre-specified questions , nor are the questions asked in a
specific order. The researcher does not direct the interviewee and thus the
interviewee is encouraged to relate his or her experiences and to reveal their
attitudes and perceptions on the topic of interest. In this method, the interviewer has
an opportunity to probe various areas and to raise specific queries during the
interviews.
7.1.4.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of interviews versus Postal

Questionnaires.
The main advantage of face to face interviews is that the researcher can adapt the
questions as necessary, clarify doubts and ensure that the responses are properly
understood by repeating or rephrasing the questions. (Sekaran, 1992, p197). Probing
during interviews can elicit additional information and detail, which can provide
deeper insights. The interview also results in a higher and more complete response
rate than mailed questionnaires. This may be the only way to get information from
people who cannot read or write or understand technical language. One further
advantage is that during interviews, the researcher can collect information on the
environment of the interviewee e.g. request for annual reports, organisation charts,
brochures, which are normally entertained as opposed to requests through the mail.
The disadvantages of the interview include cost and possibility of bias. It is very
costly to conduct many interviews over large geographical areas as it may involve
training interviewers, transportation and accommodation out of town. The very
flexibility of an interview is also an opportunity for researcher bias to influence the
data collected. Facial or verbal cues may influence the answers the participants give.
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A further disadvantage of the interview would be lack of anonymity. Participants may
feel threatened or intimidated by the interviewee, as he knows many personal details
of the interviewee such as name, position, organisation, telephone number and
addresses. This is especially true, if the topic of the research or particular questions
is sensitive.
7.1.5 Telephone Surveys
Telephone surveys may consist of polls, interview or questionnaire survey conducted
over the telephone. Compared to mailed questionnaires or personal interviews, they
can cover a wider geographical area in a shorter time. However the disadvantage is
the higher cost compared to mailed questionnaire but there can be substantial cost
savings compared to personal face-to-face interviews.
Anonymity of the telephone survey varies; the lack of face to face contact can both
be an advantage and disadvantage. Personal cues cannot be given or received,
hence there cannot be an accusation of researcher bias. However, this is not
conducive to getting a greater insight into the perceptions, feelings and thoughts of
the interviewee. Further, interviewees may not be easy with a faceless researcher as
they may fear lack of confidentiality of their views.
In this research, the length of the questionnaire and the nature of the questions which
required some thought was not suitable for administration over the phone. Hence the
telephone was used only to fix appointments for interviews to hand over
questionnaires and make presentations to academics, in some cases before handing
the questionnaires to staff.

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7.2 METHODS AND THE RATIONALE FOR THE METHODS
7.2.1 The Data Collection Methods: From The Ideal To Reality
Initially, the researcher intended to divide the data collection into three parts; i.e. an
Islamic Accounting Questionnaire; delivered by mail and in person and a case study
combined with interviews. Unfortunately, the economic situation in Malaysia, where
the research data was collected, deteriorated since 1997. This made companies
unwilling to discuss ethical matters when their survival was at stake. Further,
Malaysia faced political problems with the sacking of the Islamist Deputy Prime
Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and the subsequent riots and uprising by the Muslim
population in 1998; this made some companies who were Islamically inclined
inaccessible to the researcher. This was especially true for companies whose
directors had strong connections with the ex deputy prime minister. In fact, the
Islamisation of the economy and politics were to some extent due to the effort of the
ex-deputy Prime Minister (especially the setting up of the Malaysian Islamic Bank
and the International Islamic University). If not for the fact that the CEO of one of the
Islamic Companies studied was personally known to the researcher it would have
been impossible even to get the finance and non-finance questionnaires answered.
The Islamic companies set up by opposition Muslim political parties were very careful
about inviting outsiders to access their organisations due to fear of infiltration by
Government spies. Hence, due to lack of access for case studies, the data collection
method was changed to delivered questionnaires on behavioural aspects of
conventional accounting for finance and non-finance personnel.
To summarise, the main data collection methods used in this research are:
(a) The Islamic Accounting Questionnaires which were (i) mailed to members of
Malaysian Institute of Accountants, (ii) delivered to accounting academics in
Universities in Malaysia, (iii) delivered to companies through colleagues and friends
and (iv) delivered to audit firms.

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(b) The Finance and Non-Finance Questionnaires which were sent to (i) part time
MBA students of the International Islamic University who were working full time as
executives in various sectors and (ii) employees of Tabung Haji , Abrar Group and
some other companies and (iii) University Technology Mara Executive MBA students
who were also full time executives.
Before the contents of the above questionnaires are discussed in detail, the choice of
Malaysia as the research environment needs some elaboration.
7.2.2 The Choice of Malaysia as the Research Environment
This study is an exploratory study of Islamic accounting. It is intended to be the first
of a series of studies, which as a whole may culminate in findings, which are
generalisable to the whole Muslim world. However due to financial and time
constraints, an international survey was not possible in this PhD project, thus the
reason for focusing in a particular country. The findings are therefore meant to be
generalisable only to Muslim academics and Muslim professional accountants in
Malaysia, in the case of the Islamic accounting questionnaire.
7.2.2.1 Some background information on Malaysia
Malaysia is or was recently seen to be a model Muslim country (although not an
Islamic state) because of the economic and political stability and the infusion of
Islamic values in both government and private life. Malaysia has only a 55% Muslim
population (constituting of about 50% Malay Muslims and 5% other Muslims – mainly
Indian Muslims). The Non- Muslim population consist of 30% Chinese (mainly
Buddhists and Taoists) and 10% Indians (who are mainly Hindu) and 5% others.
However, the political and military machinery is dominated by the majority Malays
(who are almost 100% Muslim) who govern the country by means of a multi-party
coalition. Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy with a two-tiered parliament, the
lower house is elected by all citizens of Malaysia, Muslim and Non-Muslim. Islam is
the official religion defined by the constitution.

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The Malays are an ethnic group who covers the Malay Archipelago consisting of
Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore and Southern Philippines and Southern
Thailand. They are predominantly Muslim although due to recent missionary activity
in Indonesia, about 10% of the population there are Christian. One of the unique
characters of Malaysia is the definition of Malay in its federal constitution. It defines
Malay as a Muslim who practices Malay customs, speaks the Malay language and
was resident in Malaya or an offspring of such resident in 1957 when the country
received independence from Britain. This technically means that an Indian or
Chinese who has embraced Islam and follows Malay customs is classified as Malay.
Although not many Chinese and Indian Hindus have chosen this option, there are
many born Indian Muslims and a few Chinese converts through inter-marriage who
have. Hence the Malay classification can be a proxy for Muslim. (See section 7.3.4.2
for the importance of this).
Although officially a secular state, the government has been increasingly infusing
Islamic values, which it claims are universal. The Shari’ah (or more accurately
Mohammedan Law – a leftover from the British era) in a much diluted form is
enforced by a parallel system of Shari’ah courts. The Shari’ah is enforced only on
Muslims in personal law areas only. In criminal cases, it is the civil courts (which
enforce the British common law and local statutes) which have the upper hand.
However there have been recent calls by Muslims to implement the Shari’ah as the
official law of the land although this has been resisted by the government and non-
Muslims alike.
7.2.2.2 Islamic revivalism in Malaysia
In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Malaysia like other newly independent countries was born
and governed in the secular mould of the British. However Islamic revival throughout
the world, especially in the light of military and economic failures in other Muslim
countries led first to an ethnic and later a mixed ethnic-religious assertion in politics,
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government and the economy by the Muslim Malays. Many political and social
movements arose in Malaysia in the name of Islam. The Angkatan Belia Islam
Malaysia (ABIM – Malaysian Muslim Youth Movement) was one such Islamic social
welfare organisation which included the ulemas (Muslim scholars), intellectuals,
students, farmers, government servants from both the government political party and
opposition Islamic political party (PAS- Pan Malaysian Islamic Party). The leaders of
this organisation were influenced by the writings and actions of the Islamic
Brotherhood of Hasan al Bana (d. 1948) of Egypt, and other renown Islamic scholars
of the 20th Century, which were basically trying to implement Islam in the modern
world in all aspects of life. Its most popular President, Anwar Ibrahim was co-opted
into the Government in the 1980’s and was tipped to be the next Prime Minister of
Malaysia until his recent downfall in 1998. Due to the resurgence of Islam in
Malaysia, the government was forced to concede to the Muslims by opening new
mosques, Islamic schools, implementing more religious education in the curriculum
and having more Islamic religious programs on the radio and TV.
When Anwar Ibrahim was co-opted into the government, he began a long career, first
as the culture Minister (during which more Islamic elements were incorporated into
culture rather than Hindu influenced dances), the Agriculture and the Education
Minister and finally the Deputy Prime Minister. He managed to get the Islamic bank
and the university going along with the introduction of compulsory Islamic subjects in
all universities for Muslim students and the controversial introduction of Islamic
civilisation as a compulsory subject for Non Muslims at the Universities in Malaysia.
The government promoted a parallel Islamic Money Market and Financial System.
The wearing of Islamic headscarf and costume by Muslim females were allowed or
even encouraged.
Although these developments were seen as purely cosmetic by the more extreme
elements in the Islamic movement who called for a full implementation of the
Shari’ah. This non-violent gradual Islamisation process was encouraged and admired
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by many in the Muslim world. Together with the rapid economic success of Malaysia
and a more or less equitable distribution of wealth, Malaysia was seen as a model
Muslim country.
7.2.2.3 Islamisation of business life
There is an increasing Islamic eagerness among the Muslims to practice Islam in all
sectors of life including business. The Malaysian government as far back as the late
1980s made it a policy of instilling Islamic values in Government (at least
cosmetically). Economists and businessmen who at least cosmetically adopted
Islamic lifestyles increasingly took up the instilling of Islamic values or Islamisation.
There were some efforts to instill Islamic values in businesses by the newly privatised
companies with Muslim heads (e.g. Tenaga, Renong and Berjaya Corporations)
although they were mainly ritualistic and lacking in substance. However, there are
many Muslim businessmen who wanted to conduct their business in accordance with
the Shari’ah. There were also Islamic organisations such as Lembaga Tabung Haji (a
statutory funds investment organisation), Abrar Corporation (financial conglomerate)
and Pusat Pungutan Zakat (Zakat collection company) which are Islamic by their
incorporation charters.
Islamic banking and finance became a popular topic for academic and business
discussion. The importance of the Islamic banking industry from an accounting
perspective is indicated by the fact that the Malaysian Institute of Accountants formed
a working committee on Islamic Accounting and Finance to set standards for Islamic
banks and similar institutions. Even secular educated and secular minded
professionals were turning more towards Islam (at least outwardly).
7.2.2.4 Malaysia as the Country of Choice for this Project.
In summary, Malaysia is a suitable place for the research project because: (i) the
increasing awareness of Islam and intention of the people to implement in the
economic, business, social and political aspects of life, (ii) the leading position of
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Malaysia in Islamic banking and finance and the Islamic money market, (iii) the
existence of large Islamic and Muslim Business organisations, (iv) the economic
state of development with a robust Stock Exchange, a modern banking system, and
continued industrialisation and progress towards a knowledge based-economy (e.g.
the Multimedia super corridor), and (v) a developed accountancy profession based
on Anglo-American Accounting system.
In addition, the researcher comes from Malaysia and hence language,
communication and logistic problems, which may crop up if the research were
conducted in other countries were reduced. Also, the fact that Malaysia is or was until
recently seen as a model for Muslim economic development and a blueprint for
gradual Islamisation increases the probability of adoption of any development in
Islamic accounting by other Muslim countries.
7.2.3 Questionnaires and Interviews from an Islamic perspective.
The Qur’an in many of its verses, encourages learning, thinking and observation. It
encourages Muslims to observe phenomena (both celestial and social) and learn
from history and creation1. There is also a specific command in the Qur’an asking
Muslims to question and “ask those who are knowledgeable, if you do not know”
(Qur’an, 16:43). Hence, questionnaires may be regarded as a legitimate device in
Islam if addressed to knowledgeable persons or specialists in the area. Further
obtaining consensus (ijma’) of scholars (‘ulema) is an accepted method of
developing Islamic law. The Ulema in modern times could possibly be extended to
subject specialists who also have some knowledge of Qur’an and Usulul Fiqh
(Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence).
1
For example: “Behold, in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of Night and
Day- there are indeed signs for men of understanding.” (AL-QUR’AN 3:190)
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In this research, Accounting is viewed not a technical subject but as a social
construct, constructing reality and being constructed by it. Accounting exists in the
context of a society. In an Islamic society, the essence is a moral – ethical foundation
based on scripture and its interpretations by ulema (Muslim theologians, lawyers and
intellectuals combined into one) or literally “the knowledgeable people”. Traditionally
ulema are those who are well versed in Qur’anic and related Islamic knowledge. In
the so-called “golden ages of Islam” when the Muslim world was the centre of
civilisation and learning, many of the intellectuals of the day were ulemas. However,
due to historical reasons, the educational system bifurcated into secular and religious
education in the Muslim world, especially after colonisation of Muslim lands.
Islamic resurgence in the 1970’s plus other factors such as oil wealth (Noreng,
1997), made Muslim intellectuals rethink their objectives and led to a new breed who
can be called Islamists; these spearheaded many Muslim welfare organisations.
These Islamists were mostly highly educated in the Western and local secular
universities and through Anglo-American professional institutions (e.g. ACCA), but
rejected the superiority of the West except in its science and technology. They
combined the fundamental principles of Islam (e.g. they are not apologetic on the
issue of polygamy but defend it on rational principles) with the modern science and
technology seeking development with an Islamic face. They studied Islam part-time
or took some courses in Islam with traditional Muslim teachers as well as modern
educated ones.
While it cannot be said, that all Muslim professionals (especially accountants and
accounting academics) are Islamists, the researcher suspects that there are a large
number with Islamic tendencies (as shown by their affiliation to Islamic political and
social welfare parties). These professionals are not afraid of claiming to be good
Muslims as well as professionals and intellectuals. This is especially true in Malaysia
where the political environment is favourable and conducive to such identification

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unlike some other Muslim countries. Hence responses by Islamic intellectuals can be
a basis for the production of knowledge (especially accounting knowledge) in Islam.
A further method of knowledge production is through consensus or ijma. Ijma
originally referred only to the consensus of the Companions of the Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh). Later traditional scholars accepted the ijma of the ‘pious
predecessors (or salaf saleheen) i.e the companions’ companions and their
companions and very pious ulemas who led schools of jurisprudence called Imams.
The Prophet’s traditions, however refers to the consensus of the ummah or the
people. This was restrictively interpreted as all the people. However Kamali (1991)
for example, opines that, as this is impossible, the consensus of a majority of the
ulema or intellectuals would be sufficient. This approach is adopted in this project.
If a representative sample of Muslim academics and professionals who have some
Islamic knowledge can be shown to agree on certain aspects of Islamic accounting,
this can then become part of Islamic Shari’ah Muamala (or Islamic
Transaction/Business Law). This project through questionnaires hopes to explore the
nature and extent of agreement or disagreement amongst this group and is thus
important from an Islamic legal perspective.
7.3 THE ISLAMIC ACCOUNTING PERCEPTION QUESTIONNAIRE (IAQ)
This was the main device used for the greater part of data collection for this research.
It consisted of 4 parts, the objective of the questionnaire and rational for each part, its
construction and structure are explained below:
7.3.1 The Objective of the Questionnaire
The objective of this questionnaire was to collect data on the perceptions of
accountants and those involved in accounting (accounting academics and Malaysian
Muslim professional accountants) on Islamic and conventional accounting, as well as
on the socioeconomic responsibilities of Muslim and Islamic organisations.

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Specifically, the questionnaire was designed to answer the following four research
questions listed in Figure 7-1.
(a) Are the socio-economic principles under which Islamic business organisations
operate different from those of capitalist business organisations?
(b) Are the Islamic sources adequate to be used for developing an economic and
accounting system?
(c) Is conventional accounting appropriate for Islamic business organisations
and Muslim users to fulfil their objectives?
(d) What are the objectives and characteristics of Islamic accounting?
FIGURE 7-1: RESEARCH QUESTIONS UNDERLYING THE ISLAMIC ACCOUNTING

QUESTIONNAIRE.
In addition, several hypotheses are formulated under each research question herein,
which will be tested (see Chapter 9). To facilitate the search for these answers, the
Islamic Accounting Questionnaire (referred to herewith as the IAQ) was divided into
four sections consisting of: (Section 1) the ethical moral context of Islamic and
Muslim business organisations, (Section 2) suitability (or otherwise) of conventional
Anglo-American accounting for Islamic organisations and Muslim users, (Section 3)
the objectives, nature and characteristics of Islamic accounting, and (Section 4)
personal & organisational details.
For the most part, a 5 point Likert scale (Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree) as well
as a 5 point ranking scale (Not at all to Very Much so) was used in the three main
sections of the questionnaire. The fourth section was mainly “fill in the blanks” type
of questions with suggestions in brackets. Some questions required only a tick in the
boxes. The last part of the Questionnaire had an open ended comment box for
participants to comment on the topic followed by notes on some definitions.
To maintain anonymity the name and company of the participants were not asked for
although a box was left to give this information should the participants require a
summary of the results.

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7.3.2 The Construction of the Questionnaire
There are many text books on the methods of constructing questionnaires and scales
(e.g. Sekaran, 1992;Nachmias & Nachmias, 1996). These authors suggest that the
wording of the questions, the order in which they are presented and the language
used must be carefully constructed. Most questionnaires use one word (the variable
intended to be measured) or a few words which operationalises the concept to be
measured.
This advice was born in mind as the questionnaire was developed. However, due to
the explanatory nature of this study, this was not always possible, as the variables
were not capable of being expressed in one or a few words. Most questions
especially in section 1 and 2 were rather long. Although the researcher tried, short
straightforward questions were not possible. The researcher had to define some
terms or had to give assumptions as to the state of the environment to give more
precise meaning to the answers. The Questionnaire went through seven versions
before settling down on the 8th version, which was fine tuned. The questionnaire was
discussed with fellow PhD students (who mainly consisted of international students,
Muslim and Non-Muslim, who were not native English speakers) and faculty in the
department of Accountancy and Business Finance at the University of Dundee.
The sixth and seventh drafts of the questionnaires were pilot tested in the
department. The original questionnaire was very long winded with multiple issues in
one question. The initial seventeen page questionnaire was reduced to eight pages
including the notes as it was thought that it was simply too long and would affect the
response rate. Further, some notes, which were placed before each section and
were, thought to be directing the participants to answer the question according to the
researcher’s preference; these were either modified or deleted. All definitions were
placed on the last page of the questionnaire to be referred by the participants in case
of need.
Chapter 7 Page 306
Although the researcher did not pilot test the questionnaire in Malaysia, several were
administered to some faculty at the researcher’s home university. Question 1.4 in
the Islamic Accounting Questionnaire seemed to give some problems to the
respondents. However, the questionnaire had already gone out by then and it was
too late to change. Hence, this particular question has been left out in the calculation
of scores and hypothesis testing.
7.3.3 The Structure of the Islamic Accounting Questionnaire.
As stated in section 7.3.1, The Islamic Accounting Questionnaire (IAQ), was
structured to elicit answers to certain research questions in three main areas;
ethics/values of Islamic business organisations, suitability of conventional accounting
and objectives and characteristics of Islamic Accounting. Each area of the
Questionnaire and the rationale for it are described in detail in the following sections.
7.3.3.1 Section 1: The ethical/ moral context of Islamic and Muslim Business
organisations.
(Abdelgader, 1994) states that Islamic accounting is fairness and just accounting
based on the principles of Islam. However fairness and justness depends on the
social and ethical context especially of business organisations, since these
organisations are those that use accounting to the utmost and in which accounting
has the most significant impact on society. With globalisation, the Muslim world is
being forcibly integrated into the world business structure and order. Some parts of
this order are not acceptable from an Islamic perspective. For example, the primacy
of interest, the concept and structure of the modern business corporation, the
concept of maximising profits and the stark materialism accompanying the adoption
of modern business techniques including accounting.
There is an extensive literature on business ethics in the West, which attempt to deal
with the excesses of capitalism (e.g. Donaldson, 1982). The modern corporation has
also been criticised by those in the critical paradigm (Cooper & Hopper, 1990).
Chapter 7 Page 307
However, since the corporation was never known in Muslim history but an implant
from outside, there have been relatively few discussion of business ethics of Muslim
and Islamic corporations from an Islamic perspective. There have also been
arguments that globalisation means that if certain companies adopt ethical policies
not consistent with the mainstream they will be forced out of business because of
competition.
In this atmosphere, it was thought that it is important to know the perception of
Muslims on the Islamic ethical position of Muslim and Islamic Business
Organisations. In the absence of such perceptions, Islamic accounting might not be
meaningful, as problems encountered in accounting are mainly those of accounting
systems in large organisations such as the corporation.
Islamic organisation is defined in this research as one, which was set up specifically
with Islamic economic and social objectives, and operates within the Shari’ah.
Muslims should own it mainly but not exclusively. Muslim Business organisations, on
the other hand are those corporations and businesses set up by Muslims or
controlled by them but which may have high non Muslim participation. Although this
type of organisation was not set up with specific Islamic objectives, the Muslim
owners or managers, depending on their level of commitment to Islam may wish to
conduct their business in an Islamic manner to the extent the business environment
allows.
This section therefore is intended to answer two of the research questions indicated
in Figure 7-1. The first research question is:
Are the socioeconomic principles under which Islamic business organisations
operate different from those of capitalist business organisations?
To facilitate answering this question, several questions were asked of the
respondents in this section (see Figure 7-2) including whether the Muslim Business
Organisations should operate within the Shari’ah, given that doing so may in conflict
with modern business principles. This section also asked the participants whether the
Chapter 7 Page 308
Shari’ah should be interpreted in a literal manner and not inline with its intent. This
was considered important because Islamic banks have been interpreting the Shari’ah
in a literal manner, which enables them to provide interest-like financial instruments.
While this falls technically within permissible limits, it does not address the objective
for which interest was prohibited. It was felt that if there was to be any real benefits to
be derived from an Islamic economic system and the corresponding Islamic
accounting system, a purposive, objective oriented approach to the interpretations of
Islamic Law was required. This is not a novel ideal as scholars such as Al Shatibi
(Masud, 1997) and Imam Ibn Taymiyyah (Islahi, 1988) had already undertaken such
interpretations,. Using the concept of maslaha (public welfare) and maqasid al-
Shari’ah (the objective of the Shari’ah), they undertook interpretations which were
more in line with the spirit of the Shari’ah (see Chapter 2). Some questions in this
section were on the objectives of Islamic Business Organisations on gray and
controversial areas e.g. the environment, profit maximisation, stakeholder
management, and employee wage payments.
The next group of questions in this section were on the investment policies of Islamic
business organisations in the financial market instruments which are controversial
not only in Islam but in the West, such as options and futures, short selling and
contra trading. There was also a straightforward question on whether Islamic
business organisation, should participate in the interest based debt market which is
clearly prohibited. This was designed to test whether the participants held positions,
which were regarded as bending over backwards to accommodate the ‘realities’ of a
globalised market.
Chapter 7 Page 309
ISLAMIC ACCOUNTING QUESTIONNAIRE
SECTION 1: Focus of Islamic and Muslim Business Organisations
Please tick (√) the appropriate box. If you are unable to give an answer, please leave the boxes blank.
If necessary, please refer to notes 1-3 at the end of this questionnaire.
Strongly Neither Strongly

No. Statement
Agree Agree Agree nor Disagree Disagree
Disagree
1. The Shari’ah should constrain the activities of
Muslim Business Organisations.
2. Islamic and Muslim Business Organisations
should promote the attainment of falah (success)
and social welfare and not just concentrate on
profits.
3. The Objectives of Islamic Business
Organisations (IBO’s) should include:
a) Ensuring all stakeholders are treated in a
just and fair manner even if this means
profits are lowered.
b)Avoiding damage to the environment even in
the absence of adequate legal requirements.
c)Maximising profits for shareholders.
4. In the face of global competition, Islamic

business organisations should adopt a technical
interpretation of the Shari’ah rather than one
which is in line with its objectives and intent .
5. If necessary , please refer notes 8-11 at the end
of this questionnaire.
Islamic business organisations should
participate in:
(a) Interest based Debt market.
(b) Futures and/or Options market.
(c) Short selling.
(d) Contra Trading.

6. Islamic business organisations should pay
sufficient wages to its employees for them to
live reasonably, even if this means reducing
shareholder profits.
7. The socio-economic principles in the Qur’an and
Sunnah can be developed into a business and/or
legal framework to meet the current needs of :-
a) corporate industrial and commercial
organisations
b) financial institutions.
c) voluntary and non-governmental

organisation
d)government institutions and agencies
FIGURE 7-2: SECTION 1 OF THE ISLAMIC ACCOUNTING QUESTIONNAIRE

Chapter 7 Page 310
These questions lead to the following hypotheses, which will be tested by the
researcher in Chapter 9:
Hypothesis No.1:
Null Hypothesis: Malaysian Muslim accountants and accounting

academics believe that Islamic business organisations
concentrate more on profits as compared to the
attainment of social welfare
Alternative
Hypothesis: Malaysian Muslim accountants and accounting
concentrate more on the attainment of social welfare
than on profits.
Hypothesis No.2:
Null Hypothesis: Malaysian Muslim accountants and accounting

participate in activities, which are not in line with Islamic
socio-economic principles.
Alternative
Hypothesis: Malaysian Muslim accountants and accounting
do not participate in activities which are not in line with
Islamic socio-economic principles.
The last part of section 1 of the IAQ is intended to answer the second research
question:
Are the Islamic sources adequate to be used for developing an economic and
accounting system?
Specifically the participants were asked their perceptions as to whether the principles
in the Qur’an and Sunnah could be developed into a workable business and legal
framework to meet the requirements of modern business organisations. This
question was mainly asked, not to find out whether this is demonstrably provable, but
to elicit the beliefs of mainly Muslim professionals. If the answers to these questions
were positive, this would be an indication of a belief in the practicality of Islam in
business and economic life in the current era and not obsolete or irrelevant to the
needs of today. If there is no widespread belief in this, then secularisation of Muslims

Chapter 7 Page 311
can be shown to have been successful and there is no point in looking for solutions
to the socioeconomic problems of Muslims (including the development of an
alternative Islamic accounting) from Islamic law and traditions.
These questions lead to the following hypotheses, which will be tested by the
researcher in Chapter 9:
Hypothesis No.3:
Null Hypothesis: Malaysian Muslim accountants and accounting academics

believe that an economic framework cannot be developed from
the socio-economic principles of the Qur’an and Sunnah to
meet the current needs of Islamic organisations.
Alternative
Hypothesis Malaysian Muslim accountants and accounting academics
believe that an economic framework can be developed from
the socio-economic principles of the Qur’an and Sunnah to
meet the current needs of Islamic organisations.
7.3.3.2 Section 2: Suitability (or otherwise) of Conventional Anglo-American

Accounting for Islamic organisations and Muslim users.
The researcher has argued that conventional accounting is not suitable for Islamic
and Muslim business organisations due to its inappropriate objectives, characteristics
and consequences (Chapter 3). Section 2 of the IAQ (see figure 7-3) was designed in
order to elicit the perception of the Malaysian Muslim Accountants and Accounting
Academics on the following research question:
Is conventional accounting appropriate for Islamic business organisations and
Muslim users to fulfil their objectives?
The first part of this section referred to the basis, objectives, and “unIslamic”
consequences of conventional accounting information and to inquire whether
conventional accounting needs a major overhaul if at all. The second part of section
2 was intended to elicit the extent to which the participants felt that conventional
accounting information (i) satisfied Islamic requirements or (ii) had “unIslamic”
consequences.
Chapter 7 Page 312
The third part of section 2 asked the participants to rank the extent to which some
conventional accounting concepts thought not suitable from an Islamic perspective
were appropriate or otherwise for Islamic organisations. There was also an open-
ended question in which the participants were asked to insert other conventional
accounting principles that were thought to be inappropriate.
These questions lead to the following hypotheses, which will be tested in Chapter 9:
Hypothesis No.4:

believe that conventional accounting provides information,
which directs Muslim users towards Islamic behaviour
Alt Hypothesis: Malaysian Muslim accountants and accounting academics

believe that conventional accounting provides information,
which directs Muslim users towards unIslamic behaviour.
Hypothesis No.5:

believe that Financial Statements provided under conventional
accounting provide appropriate information for Muslim users.
Alt. Hypothesis: Malaysian Muslim accountants and accounting academics

believe that Financial Statements provided under conventional
accounting provide inappropriate information for Muslim users.
Hypothesis No. 6:

believe that the conventional accounting concepts of historical
cost, prudence and monetary measurement are suitable for
Islamic organisations
Alt. Hypothesis: Malaysian Muslim accountants and accounting academics

believe that the conventional accounting concepts of historical
cost, prudence and monetary measurement are not suitable for
Islamic organisations.
Chapter 7 Page 313

SECTION 2 :Suitability of Conventional (Anglo-American) Accounting for Islamic Organisations
Please indicate the extent to which you agree with the following statements by ticking (√) the appropriate
box. If you are unable to give an answer, please leave the boxes Blank.
No. Statement Strongly Neither Agree Strongly
Agree Agree nor Disagree Disagree Disagree
1. The fact that Western cultural values
underlie conventional accounting
principles may make them inappropriate
for use by Islamic business organisations.
2. The focus given to money and profits by
conventional accounting fosters
materialism, individualism and
competition among Muslim users.
3. Information produced by conventional
accounting cannot lead to welfare (falah)
in the Islamic perspective through the
efficient allocation of resources.
4. Conventional accounting needs major
modification to enable it to provide the
appropriate information which will allow
Muslim users to make the appropriate
decisions to ensure the attainment of
Islamic objectives.
Please indicate the extent to which conventional accounting is appropriate or otherwise, to the requirements of
Islamic business organisations, by ticking (√) the appropriate box.
(1 signifies “Not at all” and 5 signifies “Very much so”)
1 2 3 4 5 Don’t
No Statement Not at Very Much Know
all so
5. Financial Statements prepared in accordance with
conventional accounting principles:
a) provide appropriate information to enable
Islamic business organisations (IBO) to
properly disclose their Islamic accountabilities
( e.g. Shari’ah compliance) to all their
stakeholders.
b) b) impede the fair and proper allocation of
wealth between stakeholders e.g. as between
shareholders , managers and employees.
c) hinder the making of the appropriate decisions
needed to control Islamic organisations to
ensure the attainment of their Islamic
objectives.
6. If necessary please refer to notes 4-6 at end of
questionnaire.
The following accounting concepts are appropriate
for Islamic organisations:
a) Historic Cost.
b) Prudence/conservatism.
c) Money Measurement.
FIGURE 7-3: SECTION 2 OF THE IAQ

Chapter 7 Page 314
7.3.3.3 Section 3: The Objectives, Users, Nature and Characteristics of Islamic

Accounting.
The researcher discussed the possible objectives and principles of Islamic
Accounting in Chapter 6. Section 3 of the IAQ is intended to elicit the responses of
the participants regarding the objectives, the possible nature and characteristics of
Islamic accounting information, the type of information Islamic accounting should
provide, as well as the relative importance of stakeholders apart from shareholders
from an Islamic perspective. It is intended to enable the following research question
to be answered:
What are the objectives and characteristics of Islamic accounting?
This section consisted of four main parts:
The first part (see figure 7-4) asked the participants to tick one of 4 choices or give
their own view as to what they thought was the main objective of Islamic accounting.
The choices were obtained from a reading of the Islamic accounting literature
(chapter 6) and the conventional accounting literature (chapter 3). The choice
basically was between decision usefulness, stewardship, an Islamic version of
accountability (Islamic Accountability as proposed in Chapter 6) and social
accountability through the Islamic institution of Zakat.
The second part of this section (see figure 7-5) listed several subsidiary objectives of
Islamic accounting information and asked the participants to rank the importance of
each.
Chapter 7 Page 315
SECTION 3: OBJECTIVES, NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF ISLAMIC

ACCOUNTING
1. Which of the following should be the MAIN objective of Islamic Please Tick only One
of the following Boxes:
Accounting?
a) To provide information on the amount, certainty and timing of expected
cashflows in order for shareholders to make decision to buy, hold or sell
shares. (decision usefulness)
(b) To provide information which will enable shareholders to evaluate how

efficiently management have safeguarded and enhanced their
assets.(stewardship)
c) To provide information that will enable all stakeholders to ensure that

the organisation has discharged its accountability to them in accordance
with the shari’ah and to induce economic behaviour in line with Islamic
objectives and values.
(Accountability)
d)Provide information to enable the proper calculation and distribution of
Zakat hence reducing the possibility of creative accounting and thereby
automatically fulfilling the needs of other users. (Social accountability
through Zakat Accountability)
e) Other, please state:
FIGURE 7-4: IAQ: SECTION 3 (PART 1)
Please indicate the extent to which Islamic accounting should aim at the following objectives by
ticking (√) the appropriate box.
1 2 3 4 5 Very Don’t
No. Statement Not at all Much so Know
2. The objectives of Islamic accounting should be
to provide information:-
a) in order to maximise efficient allocation of
capital to the most effective uses.
b) to increase shareholder wealth.
c) so that all users (including shareholders,

employees and others) get their fair share
of the wealth generated by an organisation.
d) for the government to assess Zakat properly
in order that Zakat beneficiaries can get
their proper rights.
e) so that activities of the organisation can be
controlled to be in accordance with the
Islamic Shari’ah.
f) to create an environment conducive to
solidarity within the organisation and co-
operation between various stakeholders.
FIGURE 7-5: IAQ: SECTION 3 (PART 2)

Chapter 7 Page 316
The third part of this section (see figure 7-6) asked the participants to rank the
importance of other stakeholders such as Employees, Government, Community,
Customers/Consumer groups and a unique group (Benevolent Loan Creditors) as
compared to shareholders. Given the recent emphasis of other stakeholders other
than shareholders in the social accounting literature (e.g. Gray et al., 1996), it was
thought appropriate to give more or equal importance to other shareholders an
Islamic accounting system (see Chapter 6). Here a five scale (from Not important at
all to Much more important) was used with an additional column for a Don’t Know
response.

3. As compared to shareholders, Not Less As More Much Don’t
please rank the importance of important Impor important important more Know.
the following stakeholders as at all. tant important
users of Islamic accounting
information.
a) Employees/Trade Unions.
b) Government.
c) Community.
d) Benevolent Loan (Qard

Hasan) Creditors.
e) Customers / Consumer
groups.
FIGURE 7-6: IAQ SECTION 3, PART 3
The fourth part of section 3 (see figure 7-7) listed various types of information which
Islamic accounting could provide and asked the participants to rank the importance of
these. The list contained information normally ignored by conventional accounting but
which was thought to be important to Muslims.
This part ended with a check question on the disclosure of interest income by Islamic
business organisations. Since interest is prohibited in Islam; the participants were
expected to tick the boxes labelled “Prohibited Transactions- Interest Income”. If

Chapter 7 Page 317
participants had ticked sundry income box, the ability of the participants to answer
the questionnaire would have been doubtful as their Islamic knowledge might have
been suspect.

Please indicate the importance you attach to the information which should be provided by Islamic Accounting
by ticking (√) the appropriate box.
1 2 3 4 5 Don’t
No. Statement Not important at all Very Know
Important
4. Islamic accounting should provide
information on:
a) impact of the organisations activities
on the Environment.
b)Internal Employee-Manager
relationships and working conditions.
c) Distribution of salaries, perks and

wages among different levels of
managers and employees .
d)prohibited (haram) activities or

financing undertaken by the
organisation.
e)social impact on the community.
f) allocation of wealth between National

and Foreign interests.
5. Please tick one of the appropriate boxes:

Interest received by an Islamic business organisation should be classified as:
Interest income Prohibited Transactions - Interest income
Sundry Income
FIGURE 7-7: IAQ, SECTION 3, PART 4.
The fifth part of section 3 (See Figure 7-8) listed some questions on the
characteristics that Islamic accounting should take. These questions were framed
after taking into account suggestions from the critical accounting and social
accounting literatures (chapter 3) and reviewing their literatures from an Islamic
perspective (chapter 6). In addition, some specific Islamic-oriented questions taken
from the Islamic accounting literature were also asked.

Chapter 7 Page 318

(e) Please tick (√) the appropriate box. If you are unable to answer, please leave the
boxes blank .
Strongly Neither Agree Strongly
No. Statement Agree Agree Nor Disagree Disagree Disagree
6. ‘Accounting’ in the Islamic
context should NOT be restricted
to a mere monetary account-
rendering.
7. Islamic accounting (IA) needs to
de-emphasise the focus given by
conventional accounting to cash
flow, profits and financial
position.
8. IA should provide wider holistic
information on the activities
undertaken (or not undertaken)
by the Islamic organisation.
9. IA should attempt to recognise

and measure externalities.
(if necessary . please see note 7
at the end of the questionnaire)
10. IA should use current values in
the balance sheet in order for
Zakat to be calculated fairly.
11. IA should recognise unrealised
profits in order to attribute an
equitable share of profit/loss as
between present and future
shareholders.
12. Accounts and annual reports of
large Islamic business
organisations should be shari’ah
audited to ensure that the
organisation has conducted its
activities in accordance with the
Shari’ah.
13. Islamic accounting should
integrate non-financial
information reflecting significant
activities which cannot be
reliably measured in monetary
terms.
FIGURE 7-8: IAQ, SECTION 3, PART 5

.
The above questions in section 3 of the IAQ will be used to test the following
hypothesis in Chapter 9:
Chapter 7 Page 319
Hypothesis No.7:
Null Hypothesis: Malaysian Muslim accountants and Accounting academics

believe that decision-usefulness is the main objective of
Islamic accounting.
Alternative
Hypothesis: Malaysian Muslim accountants and Accounting academics
believe that decision-usefulness is not the main objective of
Islamic accounting.
Hypothesis No.8:
believe that Islamic/Social objectives of Islamic accounting
are of equal importance to Economic objectives of Islamic
accounting.
Alternative
Hypothesis: Malaysian Muslim accountants and accounting academics
believe that Islamic/Social objectives of Islamic accounting
are more important than economic objectives of Islamic
accounting
Hypothesis No.9:

believe that shareholders are the most important users of
Islamic accounting information.
Alternative
believe that shareholders are not the most important users
of Islamic accounting information.
Hypothesis No.10:
believe that Islamic accounting emphasises socio-economic
information as much as conventional accounting.
Alternative
believe that Islamic accounting emphasises socio-economic
information more than conventional accounting.
7.3.3.4 Section 4: Personal & Organisational Details.
The objective of this section was to obtain certain characteristics of participants,
which are thought to have a bearing on the type of responses given. These are
known as independent variables in a positivist framework trying to find cause and
effect relationships. The questions were “fill-in- the blank” types with some
suggestions in parenthesis (see figure 7-9). This suggested the type of response to
Chapter 7 Page 320
fill in while allowing the participants flexibility to answer other than what was
suggested. In some questions, the participants were asked to tick or not to tick one
of the boxes with answers provided.
SECTION 4: Personal & Organisational Details

Please fill in the blanks.
1. I work as ____________________________________(job title) in the
________________ _ sector (e.g. Govt./education/commerce/public practice).
2. I have ________ years of working or teaching experience in accounting.

3. My highest degree/professional qualifications is a ____________ (e.g. BA/MA/PhD D)
majoring in ____________________ from _________________ (country).
4. My highest Islamic qualifications is ______________________________(certificate/sanawi/jazah/

SPM/STPM/PMR/other )
from________________________ (country).
Please tick appropriate box for questions 5 -7 , if relevant.

5. I have formally studied social or environmental accounting.
Yes No
6. If you work in public practice, does your firm get technical assistance from a multinational associate
accountancy firm?
Yes No
7. Please tick this box if you are NOT a Muslim
FIGURE 7-9: IAQ, PART 4: PERSONAL AND ORGANISATIONAL DETAILS
7.3.4 The Population and Sample Statistics of Participants Surveyed.
There were two populations of participants for this questionnaire i.e. Muslim
Accounting academics in Malaysian Universities and Malaysian Muslim professional
accountants.
Chapter 7 Page 321
7.3.4.1 The Accounting Academics
Malaysia has thirteen universities of which ten are publicly funded and three are
private. All these universities offer courses in business or accounting. The oldest
university is University Malaya, set up in 1957 as the premier university in Malaysia
under the British system. It has the oldest accounting degree course in the country
and is research oriented. The University with the largest Accounting faculty is
Universiti Teknologi Mara with 99 staff in the School of Accountancy. The private
universities are relatively new with fairly small number of accounting staff. All the
public universities except Universiti Teknologi Malaysia have Bachelor of Accounting
or Management degree courses leading to membership of the Malaysian Institute of
Accountants, which is the statutory professional accountancy body in Malaysia.
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and the private universities are working towards setting
up a degree and are in the process of getting recognition from the professional
institutes. They have already started the courses, in some cases by setting up
twinning arrangements with foreign universities.
The accountancy syllabuses of the universities are geared towards the MIA
professional status and hence are very technical in their approaches, perhaps with
the exception of the International Islamic University, which has an Islamic curriculum.
Most universities sited their accounting department in the Faculty of Business or
Economics. Some, such as Universiti Putra Malaysia and Universiti Malaya have
both a department of accounting and a department of finance. In such cases, some
questionnaires were also given to finance department faculty.
It must be noted that all students in Malaysian universities undertake courses in
Islamic civilisation as part of their curriculum. This is a deliberate policy of the
Malaysian government although there has been some public debate in this area.
Islamic revival is particularly apparent in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, and

Chapter 7 Page 322
University of Technology Mara, which have had Islamic accounting seminars
recently. Besides the Universities, there are many private colleges offering
professional and degree courses in Accounting with twinning arrangements with
foreign Anglo-American universities. This research did not include academics from
such institutions mainly because most staff and students are non-Muslim and the
curriculum of such courses do not have local content at the moment.
The population of Accounting Academics of Malaysian Universities was defined as
faculty members of the Accounting Department/School or Management School of the
respective universities as the case may be. In the case of universities with separate
finance departments under the same faculty, the finance department faculty was
chosen as well. In certain Universities such as Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, an
accounting department does not exist separately but only operates as part of the
Management School. In these cases, the lecturers teaching accounting subjects
were chosen. In the case of the International Islamic University, the Economics and
Management Faculty had three departments at the time of the survey, which were
Accounting, Economics and Business Administration. In this university, there were
many accounting educated lecturers in the other departments. As such lecturers with
accounting knowledge were surveyed from all three departments of the faculty.
The sample was selected as follows. In some cases, the questionnaires were given
to the Departmental of Faculty Head/Dean to be given to the lecturers. To ensure a
better response, the researcher went around the department (where the faculty were
few) to hand the questionnaires with a personal request to the faculty member to
answer it. In some faculties, such as in the Universiti Utara Malaysia and Universiti
Teknologi Mara, the researcher selected only participants who were accounting
lecturers as there were many law and business lecturers attached to the accounting
department who were teaching non-accounting subjects and who did not have an
accounting background. This was done either in consultation with the Head of
department or by going through the university prospectus to see what subjects the
Chapter 7 Page 323
lecturers thought. This partly accounts for the low number of lecturers surveyed in
universities having numerous faculty members. In the case of the Universiti
Teknologi Mara, the total number of staff included those at branch campuses in other
states, which were not visited. As such, the low number of lecturers reflects those
relevant lecturers surveyed in the main campus only.
Table 7-1 shows the Number of accounting academics in each University, the
number of Questionnaires sent and the responses received.
University Accounting Quest. No. of Response % of

Faculty Delivered Responses Rate (%) pop.
tested
University Malaya 34 13 6 46 17.6

University Kebangsaan Malaysia 34 15 9 60 26.4
Universiti Putra Malaysia 14 12 6 50 42.8
International Islamic University 72 25 20 80 27.7
Universiti Sains Malaysia 18 15 9 60 50.0
Universiti Utara Malaysia 59 30 25 84 42.4
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 20 10 7 70 35.0
Universiti Sabah Malaysia 27 0 0 0 0
Universiti Sarawak Malaysia 15 0 0 0 0
Universiti Teknologi Mara 99 15 7 47 7.0
Sub-Total for public
Universities. 392 135 89 66 22.7
Universiti Telekom Malaysia 20 10 9 90 45.0
Universiti Tenaga Nasional 24 7 2 29 8.3
Tun Abdul Razak Multimedia
University 5 5 1 20 20.0
Sub-Total for private

Universities 49 22 12 54 24.5
Grand Total 441 157 101 64 22.9
TABLE 7-1: POPULATION AND SAMPLE STATISTICS OF ACCOUNTING ACADEMICS IN

MALAYSIAN UNIVERSITIES SURVEYED.
The high response rate of 64% (to the nearest %) was encouraging and is felt to be
due to personally delivering the questionnaires to the head of department or lecturers
concerned rather than posting them.
7.3.4.2 The Accounting Professionals
The second main group of participants surveyed were Muslim professional
accountants in Malaysia. There are two recognised professional accounting bodies in

Chapter 7 Page 324
Malaysia; the MIA and the MACPA2. For this project, the population identified was
only Members of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA). This is the statutory
cum professional accountancy body in Malaysia set up by the Accountants Act, 1967.
It had 12127 members as at 31st December 1998. The word Accountant is defined by
statute in Malaysia as a person who is a member of the Malaysian Institute of
Accountants. The Malaysian Institute of Accountants does not conduct its own
professional accounting examinations, although it intends to do so in future. One can
become a member by graduating from a local university whose undergraduate
degree is recognised by the MIA and getting the required quantum and type of
experience. The other route is by becoming a member of a professional accountancy
body (mostly UK, Australian and New Zealand professional accountancy bodies)
listed in the Accountants Act 1967 and registering with the MIA.
The reasons why only MIA members were chosen for this research are; (i) there are
very few Muslim Accountants in the MACPA, (ii) a Muslim accountant who was a
member of MACPA would most probably be an MIA member as well, and (iii) most
MACPA members register themselves as MIA members to get formal statutory
recognition as an accountant in Malaysia and (iv) the survey of Muslim Accountants
in the Big four firms would also get some MACPA members inside the sample.
Hence, the Muslim MIA membership can be a proxy for the professional Muslim
Accountant population in Malaysia.
Table 7-2 below shows the number of Muslim MIA members surveyed, the response
rate together with the Muslim MIA population statistics.
2
The Malaysian Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA) is the second professional
accountancy body in Malaysia. The MACPA is widely recognised in the Malaysian profession,
government and industry. It conducts its own professional examinations which are considered as
difficult as the examinations of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales. The pass
rate is very low. So far merger talks held between the MIA and MACPA to unite the profession in
Malaysia have failed.
Chapter 7 Page 325
Sector No. of No of No of Respondents

Muslim Questrs. Questrs. as a %
MIA delivered Mailed Responses of
Members through population
MIA
Del % MIA % Total %
Public
Practice 231 35 90 11 31 23 26 34 27 14.7
Commerce
& Industry 558 12 90 12 100 34 38 46 45 8.2
Public
Sector 325 0 90 0 0 25 28 25 28 7.7
Unclassified 726 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total
1840 47 270 23 55 82 30 105 37 5.7
TABLE 7-2: MALAYSIAN PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANTS SAMPLE SURVEYED.
The total number of Malay (presumed to be 100% Muslims) MIA members as at 31st
December 1998 was 1840 out of a total of 12127 MIA members constituting only
about 15% of total membership. Of this 270 (14% of the population) were surveyed
through the MIA. This consisted of 90 Muslim Accountants each working in the
public, pubic practice and industry sectors respectively. The number of responses
received totalled 82 representing a 30 % response rate (to the nearest %). According
to MIA, the normal response rates for research surveys were 10%. Hence, the
project response rate was much above normal.
A further 42 Questionnaires were delivered to audit firms (through staff partners) and
company accountants (through personal contacts) from which a further 23 responses
were obtained. In total, the 105 responses obtained constitute about 5.7% of total
Muslim MIA members. In other words the sample used in this research constituted
about 5.7% of the Qualified Muslim Accountants in Malaysia.
7.3.5 Method of Delivery and Difficulties Encountered
The main method of delivery to MIA members was by mail. Although MIA publishes a
list of members, their addresses are not published. Hence, the researcher
approached the MIA by fax and in person to get a list of members with their
addresses. The MIA refused to reveal the addresses stating that it was confidential
Chapter 7 Page 326
despite the fact the researcher was a member. However after several appeals and
phone calls, they agreed to a compromise. MIA would extract a stratified random
sample of 270 members categorised by sectors and (race/religion) and would post
the researcher’s questionnaires directly to the participants. The researcher placed
the questionnaires together with stamped self-addressed reply envelopes and cover
letters in stamped envelopes, which were delivered to the MIA for addressing and
onward mailing to the participants. Thus the MIA dispatched them directly to
members. The researcher was unable to obtain the addresses of the participants.
The questionnaire was dispatched in the first week of November 1998. Responses
started coming in after a week to the researcher’s home university in Malaysia.
It was agreed that if the response rate were not good, the MIA would allow the
researcher to phone the members who had not sent in the responses. However this
was difficult because, some participants did not identify themselves. It was suggested
by MIA that a second mailing be sent based on the extra set of labels they printed.
However due to staff problems and year-end work, MIA could not do this. Hence
there was no follow up to the mailed questionnaires.
In addition to the above mailed questionnaires, the researcher personally delivered
some questionnaires to Muslim members of the big four firms (i.e. Ernst & Whinney,
Price Waterhouse Coopers, KPMG Peat Marwick and Arthur Andersen) to increase
the response rate. A Muslim partner in the firms was contacted, an appointment was
made to see him. The researcher met the partner concerned, explained the research
to him, and after obtaining information on the number of Muslim qualified accountants
in the firm, gave a similar number of questionnaires to the partner or manager
concerned. The partner or manager distributed the questionnaires to his colleagues
and collected the questionnaires on the researcher’s behalf. The researcher later
picked up the questionnaires, after a week or two by mutual appointment.
In addition to this method, some questionnaires were sent to accountants working in
companies through the researcher’s contacts who were working in the companies.
Chapter 7 Page 327
Malaysian Airlines, Telekoms and TV3 (a Muslim owned TV company) were
contacted in this way. The researcher also administered the questionnaire to the
Chief Accountant of Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd., who now also heads the retail
banking division.
7.4 THE FINANCE QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE BEHAVIOURAL EFFECTS

OF CONVENTIONAL ACCOUNTING.
This is a short three-page questionnaire given to finance and accounting personnel to
find out whether the conventional accounting resulted in the participants behaving in
an Islamic manner. If this were true, there would be a stronger case for an alternative
Islamic accounting. Although not grouped into different sections, the questions could
be combined into three main areas; (i) investment behaviour (ii) financing behaviour
and (iii) operations behaviour.
7.4.1 The Objective of the Finance Questionnaire.
The argument for an Islamic accounting was two fold: two theoretical (Chapters 3
and 4) and one practical (chapter 5). It was argued in chapter 2 that the Western
philosophical assumptions that underlie conventional accounting make it unsuitable
for Islamic organisations who have world views and objectives that reflects those of
an Islamic society (Chapter 2). From an Islamic perspective, several additional
problems crop up. From a capitalist perspective, profit maximisation or satisfaction
must be carried out irrespective of moral considerations as long as it is legal
(Friedman, 1982). Even when social and moral considerations are discussed (e.g.
Gray et al., 1996, Tinker, 1985), the moral and social aspects are not necessarily the
same as that of Islam.
A special issue that is not considered as immoral or illegal in the capitalist or Marxist
view is the question of taking and giving interest (although early Marxists frowned at
interest). In addition the payment of Zakat is not an issue in Western social and
Chapter 7 Page 328
critical literature which is very important in Islam. The finance and the non-finance
questionnaire (explained in the next section) address these concerns.
The finance questionnaire intends to find out if Muslim Accountants and Financial
Managers behave in a manner inconsistent with Islamic values due to the influence
of conventional accounting- specifically:
(i) Whether Muslim managers make short and long-term investments in interest-
based instruments, which are prohibited by Islam.
(ii) Whether in making investments, materialist and capitalist values as encouraged
by conventional accounting e.g. profit maximisation, high capital gains were
demonstrated.
(iii) Whether Muslim managers take into account social and environmental concerns
in line with the broader objectives of the Shari’ah.
(iv) Whether Muslim managers use sources of finance which are allowed in Islam
as opposed to those, which are most profitable (the usual pecking order).
(v) The company’s policy on Zakat payment and distribution.
(vi) The commitment of various groups in a company to Islamic values.
(vii) Whether managers feel that the information provided by conventional
accounting for Islamic investment decisions.
7.4.2 The Structure and Construction of the Finance Questionnaire
The finance questionnaire was divided into 2 sections. The first section consisted of
questions related to the research questions indicated in the previous section. This
section can be grouped into several classes
Some questions related to short term investment decisions.
Question 3 had 9 sub-questions, which listed what the manager looked for when
making direct or stock market investments.
Questions 4-7 asked the participants to rank the importance of environmental, social
as well as Islamic factors when making investment decisions.

Chapter 7 Page 329
Question 8 listed six financing instruments (Islamic and non-Islamic) and asked the
managers to rank the extent of their use.
Question 9 asked the managers to what extent they made use of Islamic or
conventional banking.
Questions 10 – 11 asked the managers the basis on which Zakat was computed, if at
all.
Question 13 asked managers if conventional financial statements met their Islamic
investment needs.
Question 14 asked managers the Islamic commitment of 7 employee groups in their
company.
A five-point scale ranging from 1 (Not at all) to 5 (To a great extent) was used. A sixth
column was used for a Don’t Know response. The questions were mainly factual.
Section 2 of the questionnaire asked personal details such as job title, experience,
Islamic and secular education and the religion of the participants to correlate
responses in section 1 of the questionnaire. Section 2 was open ended (no choices
were given) except for two questions where choices were given to indicate the type
of answers required.
Both the finance and non-finance questionnaires went through three drafts at the
Department of Accountancy and Business Finance at the University of Dundee. It
was also pilot tested with the post graduate Ph.D. students of the Department.
7.4.3 Method of Delivery and Difficulties Encountered
Initially the questionnaires were intended to be given to finance managers of the
Muslim and Islamic business organisations. In practice, it became difficult to access
Muslim and Islamic business organisation on a large scale. An unexpected
opportunity presented itself to the researcher when he was conducting the empirical
study in Malaysia. The researcher’s employer, the International Islamic University
(IIUM) was conducting part-time MBA courses. Many of the students were Muslim
Chapter 7 Page 330
managers or accountants and finance personnel working in Muslim and Non Muslim
organisations. Therefore, instead of going to the companies to meet the managers, it
was thought that it would be easier to meet them in class and request them to fill up
the questionnaire.
With the co-operation of the Director of the Islamic Management Centre, which
conducted the MBA course, the researcher met the students in their classes. The
nature of the research was explained to them and they were requested to fill in the
questionnaires, which took about 10 minutes. Three such classes were visited. Both
the finance and non-finance questionnaires were given at the same time to different
individuals depending on their work area. Some finance questionnaires were
received later. The questions were straightforward, there was no need for much
clarification.
The finance questionnaires were also given to managers in the Tabung Haji Group
Divisional Managers and Managers of subsidiary companies as well to some
managers in Abrar Unit Trust and Abrar Discounts Sdn. Bhd. The researcher also
contacted the executive MBA director of University Teknoloji Mara and handed some
questionnaires to his department. However, as the program was in recess, only one
response was received.
7.4.4 Sample Statistics and Response Rate for the Finance

Questionnaire
Table 7-3 below shows some statistics on the questionnaires distributed, number of
responses and response rate. The population is the Muslim managers working in
commerce and industry or the public sector in Malaysia. However, it is difficult to get
the size of the population, as not all the Managers are members of any one
organisation or professional grouping.

Chapter 7 Page 331
Organisation/ Fin.Quest Responses Response

Distributed Received Rate (%)
Tabung Haji 10 10 100

Abrar Discounts 4 1 25
Abrar Unit Trust 2 2 100
Europipes 1 1 100
TV 3 2 0 0
Telekom 1 0 0
Executive MBA student IIUM 20 17 85
Executive MBA students MIT 2 1 50
Total 42 32 73
TABLE 7-3: :FINANCE QUESTIONNAIRES SAMPLE
7.5 NON-FINANCE QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE BEHAVIOURAL EFFECTS

OF CONVENTIONAL ACCOUNTING.
This questionnaire was given to Muslim and some non-Muslim employees in the
middle and lower management as well as clerical employees in various Muslim and
Islamic organisations. The objective of this questionnaire was to find out whether
conventional accounting systems, especially the budgeting system has any
dysfunctional effects on Muslims (and some Non Muslims) in Islamic and Muslim
business organisations.
As discussed in chapter 4, various studies from Argyris (1952) to (Roberts &
Scapens, 1985;Roberts, 1991) have indicated that the accounting system may result
in dysfunctional, confrontational and dominating behaviour. Accounting system
through information inductance (Prakash & Rappaport, 1977) may affect the
behaviour of users inside the organisation. These effects do not only concern
employees in the accounting and finance departments but throughout other
functional areas of the organisation. This questionnaire was targeted at functions
other than accounting. If the results indicate dysfunctional behaviour from an Islamic
perspective, then it would show that conventional accounting has negative pervasive
effects throughout Muslim and Islamic business organisations. A stronger case would
Chapter 7 Page 332
then be made for different Islamic Accounting especially management accounting
systems for Muslim and Islamic organisations.
7.5.1 The structure of the Non-Finance Questionnaire
The two-page questionnaire was divided into 2 sections. Section 1 asked the
participants how their behaviour or their superior’s behaviour was affected by the
accounting and budgeting systems. Section 2 was on personal details regarding the
participants’ job, experience, religion, and secular and Islamic educational
qualifications.
Section 1 starts with questions on how head office policies are determined and
whether accounting numbers are used to assess performance.
The next set of questions are intended to elicit the nature and effects of the
budgeting system on their Islamic and social behaviour. The third set of questions
were the same as those used in the finance questionnaire regarding the commitment
of various employee organisation groups to Islamic values. The fourth set of
questions asked about the Islamic culture in the organisation.
A 5 point Likert scale from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree was used throughout
section 1 of the questionnaire.
7.5.2 Sample Statistics for the Non-Finance Questionnaire, Delivery and

Difficulties Encountered.
The questionnaire was initially intended to be used in case studies. However,
because the researcher could not gain access to as many companies as he hoped,
the questionnaire was handed over mostly to working Muslim and Non Muslim
executive MBA students, in addition to executives in Islamic organisations (Lembaga
Tabung Haji, Abrar Unit Trusts and Abrar Discounts Sdn. Bhd. In these companies,
the questionnaires were handed to the managers of companies, who in turn gave it to
their managerial and clerical employees. Most of the questionnaires were returned to
the researcher on the same day while a few were collected at a later date.
Chapter 7 Page 333
Table 7-4 shows the sample surveyed and the response rates for this questionnaire.
Organisation Non-Finance Number of Response

Questionnaires Responses Rate (%)
given
Tabung Haji 20 15 70
Abrar Group Trust 10 3 30
UNITAR 1 1 100
TV 3 5 0 0
Telekoms 7 0 0
Europipe 2 0 0
Executive MBA 55 46 92
Students
Total 99 65 66
TABLE 7-4:NON FINANCE QUESTIONNAIRE SAMPLE AND RESPONSES
7.6 CONCLUSION
The researcher believes that the Islamic Accounting Questionnaire survey was
successful in that 17% of the Malaysian Muslim Professional Accountant population
was surveyed and responses representing 5.7% of the population were received.
As in all research, the researcher did not achieve 100% of what he wanted to achieve
in the data collection phase. The failure to gain access to Muslim business
organisations was disappointing, as there was no opportunity to gain deeper insights
into the behavioural consequence of conventional accounting in Islamic and Muslim
business organisations. However, this could be the subject of future research.
The research would have been richer as Muslims in business organisations which
are not specifically Islamic would face more tensions with their values and
accounting. However the results of the finance and non-finance questionnaires given
to the working MBA students does provide a clue to the type of results which could
be expected. This would be a suitable area for further research. The
misunderstandings in Question 1.4 in the Islamic Accounting Questionnaire was
another set back which did not allow full confidence in the results obtained for this
question, which was the reason for its exclusion in computing the aggregate scores.
However, this did not affect the overall reliability and validity of the results as the
concepts measured were tested by multiple questions.

Chapter 7 Page 334
In the next chapter (chapter 8) a descriptive analysis of the IAQ is undertaken and
findings and interpretation presented. In Chapter 9, this is followed up with the testing
of the hypotheses presented in this Chapter. The final empirical chapter 10 presents
the descriptive analysis of and the findings from the behavioural accounting (finance
and non-finance) questionnaires before the thesis is concluded in Chapter 11.

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Chapter 7 Page 287

CHAPTER 7: RESEARCH DESIGN AND DATA COLLECTION

or published by various private (e.g. Annual Reports of companies) and public

organisations or government departments (official statistics by the Statistical Office).

economic statistics of member countries or on a worldwide basis.

know is a Qur’anic imperative (Al-Qur’an, 16:43). There is a dearth of empirical work

accountants with Islamic principles rather than developing Islamic accounting

techniques and methodology are discussed in general followed by specific data

instrument used in this project - the Islamic Accounting Questionnaire, the

characteristics of the population and sample surveyed, and the problems

discussion on the construction of the second and third questionnaires respectively.

behavioural consequences of conventional accounting. This chapter is concluded in

7.1 DATA GATHERING TECHNIQUES: MATCHING METHODOLOGY AND

tendency for researchers in the functionalist, positivist paradigm to collect hard

objective numbers e.g. Share prices, accounting numbers etc by observation,

experimentation, extraction from published sources, questionnaires and structured

interviews. They emphasise quantitative techniques over qualitative methods.

“Softer” humanistic researchers in the interpretative and radical humanist paradigms

use the latter generally.

Further, “ triangulation”- a notion introduced from military studies by Denzin (1978)

The theoretical paradigm adopted by the researcher as explained in Chapter 5

(Section 5.3.5) is the ‘Islamic’ paradigm, which is a spiritual extension of a middle

position of the subjective/objective dimension divide and towards an interpretive

approach. For this paradigm, long-term participant observation in an organisational

difficulties in obtaining access to organisations and more specifically, to obtain

evidence of consensus among the respondents on Islamic Accounting issues. A

7.1.1 Questionnaires and the survey method

century, become a common method of gathering information.” It can be defined as

“a pre-formulated written set of questions to which participants record their answers,

the data collection process of asking questions, provides a quantitative or numeric

generalised to the population from which the sample was drawn.

phenomenon directly or is impractical to do so. It allows the researcher to reconstruct

observed the phenomena (Nachmias & Nachmias, p 224). In addition, certain

quite subjective. Factual questions ask questions of fact. Even in perception

questionnaire, there is usually a ‘personal details’ section, which is factual.

Questionnaires can also be categorised by the method of delivery i.e. Postal

Questionnaire, Personally Administered Questionnaire and telephone and its recent

extension - emailed questionnaires. In the researcher’s opinion, the main advantages

of these methods are structure and timeliness.

questionnaire. As compared to participant or process observation, where only

The timeliness of data gathering is another feature especially of postal or telephone

in a shorter period of time by using questionnaires than by interviewing sequentially

or observing over long periods of time.

7.1.2 Postal Questionnaires

a pre-paid self-addressed envelope to encourage response. A large geographical

many questionnaires are being answered in parallel. This can be contrasted to a

situation where the researcher would have to sequentially administer questionnaires

or interviews. This enables a larger sample to be obtained in a short space of time.

Although in theory the researcher could employ an army of interviewers to administer

reliability, posting questionnaires avoid accusations of incorporating researcher bias

as compared to administered questionnaires.

Another advantage is greater anonymity due to the absence of the interviewer,

face an interviewer or speak to someone directly” (Sekaran, 1992, p225).

Institute of Accountants to whom the questionnaires were posted was kept

avoid accusations of disloyalty, as they had to respond to questions on the behaviour

participants in this research.

if the answers were not given much thought.

completely misunderstood by many or all of the participants. To avoid this problem,

in his perception questionnaire). In this research, however, it was very difficult to

of the participants especially if a foreign language such as English is used in

researcher faced this problem in the case of the non-finance behavioural

questionnaires sent to personnel of the Islamic business organisations visited due to