Tisha L. N. Emerson

• Baylor University

This paper (alongside the other papers in this session) reports the findings from a mixed-methods study of teaching-track faculty in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Our approach combines a qualitative analysis of interviews with a quantitative analysis of survey responses. A key finding is that US teaching-track faculty are much...

Using student transcript data from eight institutions over 23‐years, we investigate enrollments in principles of microeconomics to determine characteristics of successful and unsuccessful students. We follow unsuccessful students to identify determinants of retake decisions and success (or lack thereof) for repeaters. Higher aptitude and more senio...

Using student transcripts from six institutions over a 23-year timespan, the authors investigate the movement of students into and out of the economics major. Considerable movement between majors occurs with 83% of economics graduates switching in after their first principles course. These eventual majors come from a variety of sources, but primari...

We re-examine the Lake Wobegon effect for reported GPA using data from students enrolled in principles of economics courses. Students are well known to over-report their GPA on surveys. In addition to standard measures of the mean difference, we extend the analysis to understand the distribution of response error using quantile regression analysis....

Using a panel of 159 institutions over 10 years, we investigate the role model effect of women faculty and quantitative requirements on the female proportion of undergraduate economics majors. We find no evidence that female faculty attract female students. Calculus, however, does matter. A one semester calculus requirement is associated with more...

We examine the potential for cooperative learning activities to offset costs of large enrollment courses. We use a quasi-experimental research design to examine achievement and course perceptions in small and large enrollment sections of microeconomic principles. While large enrollment sections attain lower levels of achievement (measured by course...

The authors' data contain inter- and intra-class variations in experiments to which students in a principles of microeconomics course were exposed. These variations allowed the estimation of the effect on student achievement from the experimental treatment generally, as well as effects associated with participation in specific experiments. The auth...

Studies have demonstrated that classroom experiments have a positive effect on student achievement in economics courses. Questions remain regarding the appropriate number of experiments. In the current study we attempt to determine whether more intensive use of classroom experiments is associated with greater student achievement. Our data contains...

We examine whether student personality type helps explain differences in students’ course perceptions across sections that varied only in the usage of cooperative learning. We use the Myers Briggs Type Indicator to classify students based on their preferred ways to take in information. We then compare the perceptions of students engaged in cooperat...

Michael Watts, Professor of Economics at Purdue University, died unexpectedly on December 5, 2014, at the age of 64 while on vacation in Antigua. His connection to the Journal of Economic Education is a long one. For 20 years, from 1988 through 2007, Mike served as the associate editor for JEE’s instruction section, which typically accounts for the...

In this study, the authors employed a quasi‐experimental research design to examine the efficacy of a cooperative learning pedagogy (i.e., think‐pair‐share exercises) integrated into sections of microeconomic principles. Materials, exercises, and assessment instruments for all study sections are identical except for the nature of the problem‐solvin...

The true method of knowledge is experiment. – William BlakeA fool is a man who never tried an experiment in his life. – Erasmus DarwinOne associate editor's perspective on classroom experiment articles is detailed in this article. The associate editor provides recommendations for manuscripts for the Instruction (those that describe new classroom ex...

Underrepresentation of women in economics is documented in many studies. Investigation of its sources at the undergraduate level is examined through students’ decisions to persist in economics, either beyond an introductory course or in their major choices. The authors add to the literature by analyzing students’ decisions to take their first intro...

Classroom experiments in economics continue to increase in popularity. While early experiments were often hand-run in class, now computerized online experiments are also widely available. Using a quasiexperimental approach, the authors investigated whether any difference in student achievement (as measured by course scores and the Test of Understan...

The present study follows a cohort of 290 students, at an American university, who were exposed to two different pedagogical approaches – traditional 'chalkand-talk' and classroom experiments. Although we find that the number of majors and upper division economics classes taken were not significantly different between the two groups as a whole, the...

As a result of numerous, highly publicized, ethical breaches, firms and their agents are under ongoing scrutiny. In an attempt to improve both their image and their ethical performance, some firms have adopted ethical codes of conduct. Past research investigating the effects of ethical codes of conduct on behavior and ethical attitudes has yielded...

We address a previous finding in the business ethics literature in which accounting professionals in higher rank levels, i.e., “manager” or “partner” of auditing firms, appear to have lower moral reasoning ability than their junior counterparts. Prior investigations have relied upon a similar methodology for estimating ethical beliefs, namely testi...

One would expect a relationship between the ethical attitudes and the religion of individuals. Published research into this relationship has found somewhat mixed results. While some studies have found a significant, positive relationship between religious belief and ethical attitudes, other studies have found either no effect or only a “marginal ef...

Recent high-profile corporate scandals are reminiscent of the corporate raider scandals of the 1980s, suggesting that ethical scandals may occur in waves. This article provides a framework for analysis of this question by suggesting that ethical attitudes may be cyclical about long-term secular trends. We provide some empirical evidence from previo...

Recent highly publicized ethical breaches including those at Enron and WorldCom have focused attention on ethical behavior within the accounting profession. At the heart of the debate is whether ethical attitudes of accountants are to blame. Using a nationally representative sample of accounting practitioners and a multidisciplinary student sample...

The authors bring together two research streams in the literature that examine separately the effectiveness of using experiments in the principles classroom and the relationship between different personality types and student achievement. Using a sample of 255 principles of microeconomics students, 48 of whom were enrolled in sections that relied h...

Objective. We analyze the process of changing ethical attitudes over time by focusing on a specific set of “natural experiments” that occurred over an 18-month period, namely, the accounting scandals that occurred involving Enron/Arthur Andersen and insider-trader allegations related to ImClone. Methods. Given the amount of media attention devoted...

We survey students at two Southern United States universities (one public and one private, religiously affiliated). Using a survey instrument that includes 25 vignettes, we test two important hypotheses: whether ethical attitudes are affected by religiosity (H1) and whether ethical attitudes are affected by courses in ethics, religion or theology (...

An increasingly popular alternative to the lecture-oriented “chalk-and-talk” approach to teaching principles of microeconomics is the use of classroom experiments. Like other alternatives to traditional teaching methods, there exists little more than anecdotal evidence supporting the effectiveness of the experimental approach. We estimate the effec...

Recent ethical breeches by corporate governorsat the highest levels have called into questionwhether ethical attitudes have changed sincethe Corporate Raider scandals of the mid-1980s. We exploit a unique opportunity to follow-up ona previous investigation of college students inthe mid-1980s to analyze this question. Usinga similar survey instrumen...

An increasingly popular alternative to the lecture‐oriented “chalk‐and‐talk” approach to teaching principles of microeconomics is the use of classroom experiments. Like other alternatives to traditional teaching methods, there exists little more than anecdotal evidence supporting the effectiveness of the experimental approach. We estimate the effec...

The literature argues that income growth leads to increased demand for environmental quality and thus reduction in pollution. Using a utility theoretic model, we hypothesize that the income--pollution relationship should depend on the level of disamenity of the pollutant. We proxy for disamenity using the toxicity of releases. For counties in the U...

The present study brings together two research streams in the extant literature that examine separately the effectiveness of using experiments in the principles classroom and the relationship between different personality types and student achievement. Using a sample of 255 principles of microeconomics students, 48 of whom were enrolled in sections...

The present study follows a cohort of 290 students, at an American university, who were exposed to two different pedagogical approaches – traditional 'chalk-and-talk' and classroom experiments. Although we find that the number of majors and upper division economics classes taken were not significantly different between the two groups as a whole,...

As a result of numerous, highly publicized, ethical breaches, firms and their agents have come under increased scrutiny. In an attempt to improve both their image and their ethical performance, some firms have adopted ethical codes of conduct. Past research investigating the effects of ethical codes of conduct on behavior and ethical attitudes has...

The recent development in economics of the online automated graded homework product, Aplia, has significantly reduced the cost to instructors of assigning and grading homework. Using a quasi-experimental approach, we investigate the effect that online graded homework has on student achievement (as measured by the Test of Understanding in College Ec...