Presents a reply to commentaries on a study about the effects of participation and authoritarianism on cognitive dissonance in a standard setting situation. Reason for choosing the standard-setting paradigm; Tool used in the measurement of dissonance.

A theoretical framework is presented that decomposes educational evaluation into four functional types. The framework is used to (1) examine the evaluation function of learning activities typically found in undergraduate accounting courses and (2) to investigate the behavioral justification for the use of some learning activities in evaluation of student performance. The analysis provides accounting educators with insights into the role of learning activities in evaluating student performance. Educators stand to attain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their evaluation practices, the rationale for such practices, and the ways in which evaluation practices can be extended and improved.