METHODOLOGY Results and analysis

2207 However, before the questionnaires were mailed, a pilot test has been carried out by distributing the questionnaires to the academic staffs of Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Utara Malaysia. This pilot test was carried out to assess the understandability and readability of the questionnaire besides assessing its reliability and validity criteria. Reliability of an instrument refers to the extent to which a variable or a set of variables is consistent in what it is intended to measure Hair, Black, Babin, Anderson and Tatham, 2006. There are several ways of assessing reliability of a scale. However, for the present study, reliability is assessed in terms of its internal consistency which refers to the degree of inter- correlation among items that measure the same concept Hair et al., 2006. The internal consistency reliability of the scales is estimated by coefficient alpha or also known as Cronbach‘s alpha. For the questionnaires distributed in the pilot study, the Cronbac h‘s alpha value was 0.95 which indicated that there is a high level of consistency in the responses provided by respondents. According to the claimed made by Nunnaly 1978, the reliability coefficient of 0.70 and above is considered sufficient. Consequently, a factor analysis was utilized to check the validity of the scale. The analysis reveals that Bartlett test of sphericity was significant Sig. = 0.000 and that the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measures of sampling adequacy was 0.76 indicated adequate measure of sampling as it was greater than 0.60 as suggested by Coakes and Steed 2001. Eventually, 500 questionnaires were mailed with a postage-paid return envelope to randomly selected tax agents and the similar 34 questionnaires to IRB education officers at all branches throughout Malaysia. A covering letter with the University Utara Malaysia logo on the top of the page was also included at the front of every questionnaire explaining the purpose of the survey and the importance of the responses and guaranteed anonymity. The covering letter is also the 2208 main chance of motivating the respondents to complete the questionnaire De Vaus, 1993. The questionnaire was prepared in English and the translation in Bahasa Malaysia was also provided. Using a 5-point Likert scale, the respondents were asked to indicate how much they agree or disagree on each aspect that a non-business taxpayers must know in order to assess their own income. The scale ranged from 1 to 5 representing strongly disagree to strongly agree.

4.0 Findings

Of the total 5γ4 mailed questionnaires, 4γ were returned due to change of tax agents‘ addresses. One hundred and thirty-four questionnaires were received from respondents within two weeks of mailing period. A reminder card was sent to each respondent in the third week. Another seven questionnaires were received after the reminder providing a response rate of 29 percent. Two of the questionnaires were rejected due to two responses provided for one of the items listed, leaving a total of 139 usable responses. Reliability and Validity Results Consequently, the analysis of data was carried out on the usable questionnaires received. Similar to the analysis on pilot test data, the reliability of the measures was assessed using internal consistency indicated by a Cronbach‘s alpha value which is based on the average correlation of items within a test if the items are standardised Coakes and Steed, 2001. This method is used as it is suitable in field studies because it requires only one administration of a single measuring instrument besides it is the most basic form of reliability estimation Nunnally, 1978. The value of Cronbach‘s alpha for the items listed as necessary aspects of tax knowledge were 0.96. This value exceeds t he Nunnally‘s 1978 guidelines which suggested that the minimum alpha value of 0.70 could be considered sufficient and consistent with the value obtained in the pilot test. The construct validity of the measures was later assessed using 2209 factor analysis. The Bartlett‘s Test of Sphericity for the 24 items was significant Sig. = 0.000 and measure of sampling adequacy with Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin KMO showed a value of 0.90 indicated that the appropriateness of the construct as ―meritorious‖ Hair et al., 2006. Descriptive Statistics Table 1 below shows descriptive statistics for all 24 necessary aspects of tax knowledge. Mean for all items were positive with values above 3.00. Item with the highest standard deviation was ‗the amount of relief‘ 1.5β while the lowest was ‗types of assessment i.e. joint or separate‘ 1.01.