Frank Hodge, 1 Frank Hodge University of Washington Computer-Based Instruments: Computer-Based Instruments: Design Issues and Benefits

Frank Hodge, 2 OverviewDesignBenefitsConclude An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field. --Niels Bohr

Frank Hodge, 3 OverviewDesignBenefitsConclude Instrument types Attachments Surveys Basic experiments Complex experiments

Frank Hodge, 4 OverviewDesignBenefitsConclude Coding You Student helper A professional In house Outside

Frank Hodge, 5 OverviewDesignBenefitsConclude Interface Basic Adding bells and whistles Data collection Format

Frank Hodge, 6 OverviewDesignBenefitsConclude Attachments Example Sedor (The Accounting Review, 2002)

Frank Hodge, 7 OverviewDesignBenefitsConclude Surveys Front end Back end Examples Hodge (Accounting Horizons, 2003) U of Washingtons WebQ External resources (e.g., SurveyMonkey.com)

Frank Hodge, 8 OverviewDesignBenefitsConclude Basic experiments Random assignment Front end Back end Example Elliott WP External resources

Frank Hodge, 9 OverviewDesignBenefitsConclude Complex experiments Random assignment Front end Back end

Frank Hodge, 10 OverviewDesignBenefitsConclude Complex experiments Examples Hodge, Kennedy & Maines (The Accounting Review, 2004) Elliott, Hodge, Kennedy & Pronk (WP) Hodge & Pronk (WP)

Frank Hodge, 11

Frank Hodge, 12

Frank Hodge, 13 OverviewDesignBenefitsConclude Questions to ask yourself Who will do the coding? What do I want the front end to look like? What data do I want to collect? BENEFITS > COSTS

Frank Hodge, 14 OverviewDesignBenefitsConclude Potential benefits Not geographically constricted Not restricted to normal hours Ability to collect larger samples Experiment reaches out to subjects Potential to reduce costs Making changes can be easier

Frank Hodge, 15 OverviewDesignBenefitsConclude Potential benefits Validity benefits Ability to gather behind the scenes data Being asked to be on a panel…

Frank Hodge, 16 OverviewDesignBenefitsConclude Before deciding to use a computer-based experiment do a cost-benefit analysis. BENEFITS*1/2 > COSTS x 2

Frank Hodge, 17 OverviewDesignBenefitsConclude Will computer-based experiments become the norm in accounting? Prediction is very difficult, especially of the future. --Niels Bohr