The Impact of Voluntary Engagement with Online Quizzes on Performance in Introductory Accounting Students

This thesis examines the impact of voluntary engagement with online quizzes on performance in introductory accounting students. The online quizzes were not multiple-choice questions; instead, they replicated the accounting processes students need to demonstrate in their assessments. The thesis develops a theoretical model that modifies and operationalises Biggs’ 3P model, theoretically motivating the inclusion of control variables in the empirical analysis. It also develops a novel test for self-selection bias using the student as their own control. The thesis finds that using this model, the mixed results in the literature are attributable to prior research failing to align the level of analysis between the learning activity assessed and the outcome variable. In the accounting online quiz literature, only when the quizzes comprised a substantial proportion of the final exam were they associated with exam performance. The thesis then extends the model to ask a deeper set of questions to obtain a more nuanced understanding of the impact of quizzes on students’ learning. It finds that voluntary use of online quizzes can help students of all achievement levels access feedback to succeed in learning introductory accounting but highlights that low achievers may need additional support beyond the feedback automatically provided by online quizzes. The thesis also demonstrates how the model can be changed to show how students engage with the quizzes, as a successful self-test where they repeat the quiz until they pass, or as a ‘worked example’ to access the elaborate solutions provided in the quiz feedback. It finds that using the quiz as a self-test was the better strategy for the foundational financial accounting concepts, while using the quiz as a worked example was the better strategy for topics that required the accurate application of a highly structured problem-solving strategy. An important caveat is that when using the quizzes as a worked example, students still needed to make a genuine attempt to complete the quiz to receive the benefit. Accounting educators can use the theoretical model and methodological refinements developed in this thesis to demonstrate theoretically motivated empirical analysis of their own educational innovations and to advise students on the most effective way to use quizzes to learn accounting.

Author dc:creator

• Wight, Raechel

Statement dc:rights

• info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
• The author owns the copyright in this thesis including all reproduction and reuse rights for the work. The work may not be altered without the permission of the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from this thesis.
• © 2022 Raechel Wight
• au.edu.uts.lib/cph

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/171456

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opus.lib.uts.edu.au:10453/171456