Stallman investigated the effect of allocating or not allocating common costs as these allocations are reflected in divisional income calculations. Questionnaire packets, containing two sets of corporate data and a request for numerous judgments, were sent to a random sample of members on the rosters of the Financial Analysts Federation and the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts. A total of 121 respondents provided analytically usable data (for a response rate of 11.33 percent). With regards to the sample, McDonald suggested that, if the experiment is repeated, some less sophisticated inventors should be included. 2 The reported results were based on the respondents' judgments of an estimated long-run investment value for a share of stock. Analysis revealed that statistically significant differences in stock valuation esti-

Income smoothing, Chemical industry, Real smoothing, Artificial smoothing

Vincent C. Brenner, Ronald M. Copeland, Paul E. Dascher, Arthur J. Francia, Ronald J. Patten, Robert H. Strawser, Trials and Tribulations of the Researcher: A Case Study, Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Spring, 1972), pp. 195-199