Understanding and Quantifying Difficulty in Financial Accounting Test Items

• In Event: Roundtable Session 37
  In Roundtable Session: Workplace Learning: Multiple Contexts, Multiple Settings

Abstract

Measuring of competencies is a prominent research field in vocational education and training. Although financial accounting is a key element of business, it has not been considered in this context. For measuring competencies, an understanding of difficulty in test items is required. Drawing on the didactics and the theory of problem solving in accounting, we identified three key variables of cognitive complexity: modeling, gathering of information, and cognitive processing. To test our hypotheses, we used data from the final examinations of industrial clerks in Germany (N=2,195). Applying a hierarchical regression analysis and a LLTM, we were able to confirm that the level of modeling, gathering of information, and cognitive processing positively influence the difficulty of test items in financial accounting.

Authors

• Josef Guggemos, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

• Michael Schönlein

• Sandra Bley, Ludwig-Maximilians. University Munich