Examining External Validity Criticisms in the Choice of Students as Subjects in Accounting Experiment Studies
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Authors
Chan, Canri
Landry, Steven P.
Troy, Carmelita
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2011-05-19
Date
Publisher
Accounting, Behavior and Organizations
Language
en_US
Abstract
This paper addresses choice of subjects in experiments with particular attention paid to the use of students. We first
review the literature concerning internal and external validity concerns with respect to subject type choice followed
by a discussion of experimental design. We then review six of the leading accounting journals, evaluating and
comparing subject types used in published articles employing experiments during the period 1994-2007 inclusive.
Our results show that many accounting researchers have used student subjects, both undergraduate and graduate,
in their research while making relative(v significant contributions to the accounting literature. Jn designing and
conducting experiments, extant literature provides guidance whereby researchers employing students, particularly
undergraduate students, can mitigate potential external validity concerns. Researchers should conduct
manipulation checks with at least some "real world" subjects to compare with student subjects. If differences are
found, then researchers will need to redesign their experiments in order to address external validity concerns.
Type
Article
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Graduate School of Business and Public Policy (GSBPP)
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
26 p.
Citation
Chan, Canri, Steven P. Landry, and Carmelita Troy. "Examining external validity criticisms in the choice of students as subjects in accounting experiment studies." The Journal of Theoretical Accounting Research 7.1 (2011): 53.
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.