For the purpose of this research, two interviews were carried out; one being the editor of ‘Islamic Finance Today’ magazine of Sri Lanka, and the other being a senior executive in a leading Islamic bank in Sri Lanka.
According to Kothari (2004, pp.95) the observation method is the most commonly used method especially in studies relating to behavioural sciences. In a way we all observe things around us, but this sort of observation is not scientific observation. Observation becomes a scientific tool and the method of data collection for the researcher, when it serves a formulated research purpose, is systematically planned and recorded and is subjected to checks and controls on validity and reliability. Under the observation method, the information is sought by way of investigator’s own direct observation without asking from the respondent. Therefore information was gathered through direct observations at the author’s place of work which is a bank where the day-to-day transaction, behaviours were observed.
3.3.2 Secondary Data
According to Kumar (2008, pp.57), secondary data is that which the author has not been responsible for gathering ‘first-hand’. It therefore includes all the data gathered by someone else and presented in a variety of forms, such as journal articles, reports, archive materials, companies annual reports, newspapers and magazines, conference papers, internet and books etc.
For this research, the secondary data collection related to Islamic banking and the objectives of this research mainly come from books, magazines, journal articles and internet search.
As per Singh (2006, pp.271) statistics refers to numerical facts. State as well as Central, Statistical department and various other agencies can be seen engaged in collecting valuable statistics. The laws regarding banking in Sri Lanka has been obtained from materials of Central Bank of Sri Lanka. This was done to analyse the application of Islamic Banking systems against conventional banking to arrive at a comparison purely from the Sri Lankan perspective. This reveals how the two systems are performing with their differing processes and the advantages and disadvantages of the two competing systems.
