An Analysis of Accounting Faculty's Teaching and Related Educational Research.

This study investigated whether there is a relationship between the amount of research on teaching carried out by accounting faculty and how they teach the subject. More explicitly, the purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which accounting faculty members' instructional goals, attitudes toward teaching, teaching evaluation, and teaching practices relate to their level of involvement in research on learning and teaching accounting. The population consisted of 215 college and university accounting faculty members located in the State of Michigan between March and May, 1984. The sample consisted of 111 accounting faculty members. The selection of the sample was facilitated by using the 1983 Accounting Faculty Directory, an annual publication, which contains a listing of deans and accounting faculty from 490 colleges and universities throughout the United States. The directory contains a listing of 18 colleges and universities, and 215 accounting faculty for the State of Michigan. All of the accounting faculty whose names are listed in the directory were asked to participate in the study. A questionnaire which assessed faculty attitudes towards instruction, teaching practice, and research was mailed to all 215 accounting faculty members. A letter accompanied the questionnaire to provide a general explanation and purpose of the study; instructions for completing the questionnaire, along with a stamped, pre-addressed envelope for return of the completed questionnaire were mailed to each respondent. The total number of completed questionnaires returned was 118 (55%). The statistical methods used to analyze the data were analyzed using univariate, bivariate and multivariate statistical procedures. Analyses included frequency tabulations, T-tests, ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlations, Chi-square tests of independence, and stepwise multiple regression. The findings indicated that teaching practices seem to play the most salient role as a predictor of accounting faculty members' level of involvement in research on learning and teaching accounting. The second best predictor was attitudes toward teaching, followed by instructional goals, while teaching evaluation was found to be negatively related to accounting faculty members' level of involvement in research on learning and teaching accounting. The findings should provide valuable insights into the perceptions and attitudes held by accounting faculty members and administrators regarding the neglect of research into the pedagogical aspects of accounting.PhDBusiness educationUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/160965/1/8612538.pd