Content area
Abstract
Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) in accounting was scarcely studied prior to 1972. Infrequent research explored ways to incorporate computers into an accounting curriculum between 1973 and 1978. Today, little research focuses on ways to find and improve student achievement, test student attitudes toward the use of CAI, and ways to incorporate computers into an accounting curriculum.
This study had two purposes. The first purpose of the study was to compare student achievement between those who used a computer learning-aid software program and those who used traditional learning procedures in a post-secondary fundamentals of accounting class. The second purpose of the study was to compare preparation time between the students in the study.
Three sections of Principles of Accounting I (BUS 261) at Northern Montana College, Havre, Montana, were involved in the study. The sections were taught by different instructors, and the study was conducted within a framework of a ten-week quarter system.
Eighty students in the sample were randomly placed in either the control or the experimental group. The control group completed manually calculated exercises. The experimental group completed the computer study guide exercises. A commercially prepared study-aid software package that was produced and tailored for the textbook was used for this study.
The students were given five chapter examinations throughout the ten-week quarter. Students also completed weekly time sheets to determine their total preparation hours. A two-factor analysis of covariance was selected to analyze the five tests and the composite of the test scores. A two-factor analysis of variance was used to compare preparation hours.
Students who used the computer-assisted study guide did not achieve higher scores at the p < .05 level on any of the five tests or on the composite of five test scores. Also, the two groups were very similar when preparation hours were compared.
