Proceedings

demanders of that education” (American Accounting Association, 1986) (Cheng,
2007). In what follows we try to detect if there is any link between the age and level
of academic education on one hand and the way they appreciate the theoretical
knowledge acquired during university studies and practical skills acquired through
practical work experience on the other hand. To do that we use chi-square analysis to
test some hypothesis.
Hypothesis 1
There is a link between the age of the interviewed persons and the importance level
they attaches to the theoretical knowledge acquired in school.
H0: There is no association relation.
Ha: There is an association relation
Given the small sample size the recoding of variable was required. To safely use the
Chi-square test based on the Chi-square approximation, a maximum of 20% of the
cells of the contingency table should have values lower than 5 (number of cases). To
overcome this limitation we arbitrarily grouped scores lower than 3 and those greater
than 3. We also regrouped ages categories obtaining two of four: 25-45 years and
45-65 years. The effect of the re-codification is the occurrence of the possibility that
certain correlations existing between subgroups might have been lost.
Table 4. Chi-square results for Hypothesis 1
Chi-square (Observed value) 6,685
Chi-square (Critical value) 5,991
DF 2
p-value 0,035
alpha 0,05
As the computed p-value is lower than the significance level alpha=0,05, one should
reject the null hypothesis H0, and accept the alternative hypothesis Ha.
The risk to reject the null hypothesis H0 while it is true is lower than 3,54%.
Hypothesis 2
There is a link between the academic education level of respondents (bachelor degree,
master degree, doctoral degree) and the importance level they attaches to the
theoretical knowledge acquired in school
H0: There is no association relation.
Ha: There is an association relation
Because of the restrictions imposed by the Chi-square contingency table, scores lower
than 3 and greater than 3 were grouped. The chi-square results are listed below:
~ 885 ~