Towards A Unified Zakat System

analysis of respondents background is provided in table6. la.It can be seen from table 6.1a that more than 67 percent ofthe respondents were between 30-50 years old. The tablefurther reveals that 21 percent of the respondents are lessthan 30. Only 1 percent of the respondents was found to beabove 60 years of age. Given that the majority ofrespondents are more than 30 years old, this will givecredibility to their answers because of their high level ofexperience and maturity. Table 6.1a also reveals that allrespondents are nationals of the countries surveyed whichstrengthens the validity of the questionnaire as allrespondents are directly concerned with the subject of thesurvey. The distribution of respondents among the fourcountries is fairly proportionate in order to make thesample more representative of the population of study. Thelargest country (Saudi Arabia) is represented by themajority (30 percent) of the respondents, while the othersmaller countries are represented by 25 percent (Kuwait), 24percent (UAE) and 21 percent (Bahrain) respectively. As thepresent study is more concerned with obtained informedopinion, education of respondents is of paramountimportance. Table 6.1a shows that more than 91 percent ofthe respondents hold a bachelor's degree or above with theother 9 percent holding a relevant diploma and high school202