Data Fixation: Methodology Refinements and Additional Empirical Evidence
Dennis Murray
Several previous studies (e.g., Ashton [1976], Dyckman et al. [1982] and
Bloom et al. [1984]) have investigated data fixation in an accounting context.
All of these studies suffer from various methodological flaws which hamper
the interpretation of their results. This study reexamines data fixation
by introducing several methodological refinements. These include full disclosure
of the effect of an accounting change, a more focused statistical test
and the use of both relatively naive and knowledgeable subjects. An analysis
of subjects' decision rules and decision outputs indicated that both the
naive and knowledgeable subjects exhibited a substantial amount of behavior
consistent with fixation; however, the fixated behavior was most evident
in only one of two treatment conditions.
Return
to BRIA 1991, Volume 3 contents