Title
An Empirical Test of Bentham's Theory of the Persuasiveness of Evidence
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1996
Abstract
Audit seniors from 2 international public accounting firms participated in 2 experiments designed to test hypotheses derived from legal theorist Jeremy Bentham's (1827) theory of persuasiveness of evidence. Statistically, significant results in the predicted direction were found for 6 characteristics of evidence: 1. amount of evidence - number of tests, 2. dispersion of estimates, 3. composition of the evidence set, 4. source reliability, 5. directness of evidence and 6. deviations from expectations. Knowledge of the characteristics that make evidence persuasive could be useful in developing theory-based models of professional judgment, expert systems for evaluating evidence, and improved frameworks for educating novices.
Publication Title
Auditing: A journal of practice and theory
Repository Citation
Caster, Paul and Pincus, Karen V., "An Empirical Test of Bentham's Theory of the Persuasiveness of Evidence" (1996). Business Faculty Publications. 121.
https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/business-facultypubs/121
Published Citation
Caster, Paul and Karen V. Pincus. "An Empirical Test of Bentham's Theory of the Persuasiveness of Evidence" Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory (Supplement 1996, 15), pp. 1 – 22.
Comments
Copyright 1996 American Accounting Association
A link to full text has been provided for authorized subscribers.