Cognitive Style as a Factor in Accounting Students' Performance on Multiple Choice Examinations

Using 59 final year accounting students as subjects and multiple regression analysis, this paper tests the hypothesis that accounting students' performance on multiple choice examinations is related to field dependence cognitive style. Results support the hypothesis and suggest that in evaluating student performances in multiple choice examinations, accounting academics should bear in mind that the scores on these examinations may be partly a function of students' cognitive style. This finding has implications for the use of multiple choice examinations in classroom evaluations.