Conclusions

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This study shows that an increase in logical reasoning skill takes place with formalized spreadsheet training. In addition, it also indicates that the greater the increase in logical reasoning skills, the better the student performs in developing spreadsheets and the lower the error rate. This is the initial step in a research program that attempts to determine why end user developed spreadsheets have high error rates in them. This program of research is substantially different from the existing spreadsheet literature that primarily establishes and confirms the existence of high error rates. Further study of the cognitive process may help to develop better training methods that result in spreadsheet models that have lower error rates.

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