Accounting and Machiavellianism. Behavioral Research in Accounting (January 2008) published a study of Machiavellian traits in accountants. Machiavellian describes negative character traits that include manipulation, cunning, duplicity, deception, and bad faith. A questionnaire was administered to a random sample of 700 accounting alumni of a large southwestern university; however, due to nonresponse and incomplete answers, only 198 questionnaires could be analyzed. Several variables were measured, including age, gender, level of education, income, job satisfaction score, and Machiavellian (“Mach”) rating score. The research findings suggest that Machiavellian behavior is not required to achieve success in the accounting profession.

a. What is the population of interest to the researcher?

b. What type of data (quantitative or qualitative) is produced by each of the variables measured?

c. Identify the sample.

d. Identify the data-collection method used.

e. What inference was made by the researcher?

f. How might the nonresponses impact the inference?

The researchers of the Behavioral Research in Accounting wanted to choose accounting alumni as the population of interest. The researchers were desirous of conducting a research study on the accounting professionals, and that’s why accounting alumni were chosen.

A respondents’age, income, job satisfaction score, and Machiavellian score are numerical in nature and quantitative. A respondents’gender and level of educationare non-numerical, so they are qualitative.

The sample mainly includes198 accounting alumni, as only 198 questionnaires have been analyzed by the researcher for drawing the inferences.

The researchers collected the data from accounting alumni by circulating 700 questionnaires.Out of all the respondents, only 198 have responded, and the analysis will be done based on the data collected from 198 respondents.

After analyzing 198 questionnaires filled out by the accounting alumni, the researchers have drawn their conclusions. They have deduced that accounting professionals can achieve success even without having Machiavellian behavior.

Data collected from 700 respondents could have given a better inference than 198. Therefore, due to the presence of several nonresponses, the inference can be regarded as slightly less reliable.