Pages: 14

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 12

A major problem confronting researcher engaging in this methodological field is deciding which research method is most apt for gathering and analysing empirical data on a research issue or situation. The research methodology literature generally advocates both well-acknowledged and emergent research methods for studying accounting phenomena and their practice in society, institutions, and organizations. This chapter reinforces these views by critically reviewing each chapter included in this edited collection.

Pages: 186

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 19

This chapter will review the theoretical principles and assumptions underpinning our social constructionist research program pertaining to the accounting profession. We will reflect upon much of our previous research, emphasizing that social reality is constituted through social interactions. This research agenda has been informed through the examination of the accounting profession as reflected in individuals’ perceptions and formed by their interactions with each other in the formulation of structural and social change.

Pages: 18

This chapter tracks the development of the interpretive paradigm in accounting research by reviewing its evolution over time, central debates, and likely future research directions within this paradigm. The chapter maps out central ideas and debates evolving since the emergence of this paradigm in the 1970s to the present day by adopting an essentially chronological approach. The emphasis has been placed on issues of ontology and epistemology and their implications for theoretical and methodological choices within this paradigm.

Pages: 19

This chapter explores the evolving role of researcher-researched relatedness in interpretive accounting research (IAR). It addresses some of the unique complexities of this relationship, arguing for greater transparency about its development in research accounts. Through theoretical discussions and personal vignettes, the chapter advocates for an expanded conception of IAR that recognizes the researcher’s influence on research outcomes. A central argument is that IAR’s inherent intersubjectivity challenges conventional ideas of knowledge generalization to a greater extent than is commonly accepted. Emphasizing flexibility over rigid definitions, the chapter calls for continued methodological experimentation and open dialogue about IAR practices. Ultimately, it encourages a view of IAR (next to other equally valuable ones) as a dynamic, co-creative process, valuing gradually developed, localized insights and meaning-making. This perspective contributes to a m.ore nuanced understanding of the researcher’s agency in shaping interpretive ‘knowledge.’ Further discussions about this view – not necessarily via book chapters or research papers – are actively encouraged.

Pages: 16

This chapter considers two research articles (Annisette 2000; Cooper 2015) to illustrate two methods used in critical accounting research. Both articles though concerned with capitalism and its rationalities position theory differently in the research process and employ different research methods. We focus on how a wealth of secondary data was obtained through desk-based research to illustrate how the globally diffused rationalities and technologies of accounting alter and shape our worlds in both a material and an ideological way.

Pages: 19

This chapter explores past, present, and proposed future approaches to language and translation in the accounting literature. It begins by considering the role of translation in accounting, some theoretical assumptions, and prior accounting research. It illuminates translation’s significance to conducting interlingual/intercultural research. The second part examines bilingual accounting researchers’ interactions with diverse contexts, cultures, and communities in more depth, focusing on their political choices and ethical responsibilities in interpreting and publishing non-English narratives. It calls for a more radical cross-cultural research approach, emphasizing translation’s role in decolonizing knowledge, creation, and fostering more inclusive acaoic practices in accounting.

Pages: 17

In this chapter, we consider the philosophical and methodological character of phenomenology, delineating various types of phenomenology. We reflect on what it means to do a phenomenological study in accounting (and organization studies more generally), what is the potential of such study, and what has manifested in actual research. We seek to articulate ways forward in terms of the advancing of critical phenomenology for the analysis of accounting (and related practices).

Pages: 22

Historiography can mean the writing of history, but it is generally understood to relate to the analysis of bodies of historical writing, often on common themes. This chapter will address the extent to which historical research and research grounded in the social science are similar and different. The centrality of the archive for historical accounting research will be emphasised, with a critical examination of the challenges of accessing, using, and interpreting archives, and the “constructed” nature of archives themselves.

Pages: 21

This chapter would ideally commence with a precise and succinct definition of Grounded Theory. Unfortunately, it is not so straightforward and there seem to be as many definitions as researchers, including such issues that will be addressed in this paper as is it qualitative or quantitative, is it inductive or deductive, is it interpretive or functionalist, is it subjective or objective, is it methodology or method and what is its relationship to prior theory.

Pages: 18

The visual is an entire domain of communication that offers an abundant array of signs that relate to accounting and accountability, that has become omnipresent in contemporary society. Our understanding of ‘the visual’ is very broad, to include, for example, pictures, photographs, cartoons, charts, maps, diagrams, logos, web pages, advertisements and architecture. This chapter focuses on research methods based in the humanities (visual semiotics, visual rhetoric and philosophy), in sociology (impression management, visual elicitation, performativity and actor-network theory) and experimental methods from psychology and content analysis. It also provides a rich bibliography of relevant material.

Pages: 15

Inspired by Jan Reed’s (2007) book Appreciative Inquiry: Research for Change, this chapter introduces the notion of appreciative enquiry (hereafter AI) to our accounting researchers. AI is well known to organisational development researchers as a research methodology to investigate organisational change. This chapter provides a detailed description of the AI method and its potential usefulness to accounting research as a research method to focus on the understanding of what accounting works well in a particular organisational setting.

Pages: 187

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 15

This chapter focuses on the emergence of ethnography in management accounting/professional accounting, reflect on tensions between critical and interpretive studies (where ethnography became a matter of some controversy/debate). It then follows ethnography’s emergence within sustainability and environment accounting and considers where it goes next.

Pages: 14

The chapter introduces netnography, a qualitative research methodology originally developed for Internet-based marketing studies, which has since been adopted across various disciplines, including accounting research. Today, the digital realm—comprising websites, forums, social media, and sharing economy platforms—offers a vast source of data, including reviews, comments, opinions, and user-generated ratings. To navigate this digital landscape and harness its extensive data for meaningful research, an increasing number of scholars are turning to netnography, a methodology that adapts ethnographic tools and principles to the digital environment. The chapter begins by providing a detailed explanation of the netnographic method and process, with considerations on its application in accounting. It then offers an overview of contemporary accounting and accountability studies that have employed netnography, highlighting the various digital contexts and data sources examined. Finally, drawing from the existing literature, the chapter concludes by outlining opportunities for future research using netnography in accounting and accountability.

Pages: 18

Counter-accounts are reporting tools used by social movements, activists, researchers, and citizens to challenge dominant power structures and drive social change. They offer alternative representations of organisational reality, amplify diverse and marginalised stakeholder voices, expose accountability gaps, and scrutinise powerholder (un)accountability to increase pressure for systemic change. We argue that counter-accounts are a vital tool within the broader arsenal of accountability mechanisms. Drawing on extensive literature, we trace its evolution and key practices, highlighting its capacity to drive social change while acknowledging its perceived limitations. We advocate for its expanded methodological application to enhance its effectiveness in both research and practice.

Pages: 22

This chapter provides a personalised analysis of the historical development of case study research in accounting, building on our practical experiences in undertaking, using and editing ‘insider’ accounts of conducting case studies. We consider historic and contemporary initiatives and features of the academic environment serving to promote, support, constrain and/or transform this research approach, and contemplating the relative significance of method and ideas in driving the undertaking of case study research and determining what counts as a ‘good’ case study.

Pages: 15

While the narrative approach is relatively new in accounting research, its impact seems to be growing. The application of a narrative approach to accounting denotes several possibilities that will be addressed in this chapter including images of accounts and accounting in popular culture; attempts to apply narratological tools in accounting research; attempts to exploit the knowledge about narratives in academic reports and efforts to launch a narrative approach in practice of accounting.

Pages: 15

This chapter introduces the basic concepts and methods involved in oral history research in accounting. Oral history is encouraged to broaden perspectives in accounting research and to include the views of those on the margins, and gain alternate perspectives on mainstream research. Oral history can also be used to undermine the notion that accounting’s history is one of sustained, inevitable progress. This chapter also reviews some of the recent contributions and criticisms to the area in accounting literature.

Pages: 17

Autoethnography is prominent in qualitative social science research but is relatively less common in accounting research, though its influence is beginning to grow as researchers recognize this rich and innovative methodological approach. This chapter outlines what autoethnography is as both a research process and a product of research, and explores the ontological, epistemological, and methodological issues arising from such an approach, including the various forms that autoethnography takes and how it has been used in contemporary accounting research.

Pages: 19

Action Research has had a long but somewhat subterranean presence in disciplines such as sociology, political science, and management. However, the extent to which it is known to academic accounting is debatable. This chapter attempts to bridge this gap, fully aware that the chasm has its rationale and that few readers will “jump ship” from more conventional pursuits. Perhaps the obverse presents a more interesting approach for the chapter – why don’t we have more action research in accounting?

Pages: 15

This chapter gives an overview of discourse analysis in the social sciences and the accounting literature and discusses key considerations for users of discourse analysis. It finds that accounting research has mainly used discourse analysis to question the role and logic of accounting, trace the historical emergence of accounting discourses, study some of the ways in which accounting discourses can facilitate particular programmes of action, and explore particular interfaces between accounting and other disciplines.

Pages: 19

This chapter’s purpose is to introduce interventionist research (IVR) and its peculiarities to accounting researchers who may not be familiar with this research approach by presenting reflections and examples from the authors’ interventionist research projects and the IVR in accounting literature. We outline the future of IVR for accounting by addressing skills development for a new generation of accounting academics, and how IVR can help bridge the gap between research and practice.

Pages: 16

The concept of reflexivity has been widely used in social science qualitative research methods for a number of decades, so it is not a new phenomenon. However, despite qualitative methods becoming more prominent and more accepted within accounting research, they still operate in a marginalised context. The purpose of this chapter is to reflect on those debates, the meaning and application of reflexivity, strategies for reflexive awareness and processes of reflexivity, and reflexive research in accounting.

Pages: 136

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 20

390The aim of this chapter is to contribute to the conversation on mixed research methods in accounting, by offering an overview of current and emerging worldviews and paradigms in the field of mixed methods. We provide rationales for the types of accounting research most predisposed to a mixed methods approach, why mixed methods research is important, the relationship between methodology and methods, the challenges associated with undertaking mixed methods research, and the potential contributions of this genre of research.

Pages: 18

This chapter discusses the process and analysis of field interviews. We draw on the existing qualitative field research methods literature and our own experiences of the field to describe the processes of designing and conducting qualitative field interviews and to provide some guidelines on how to analyze field interview data. Specifically, we examine three main themes: the nature of qualitative field interviews, the processes of preparing and conducting field interviews, and analysing interview data.

Pages: 16

Participant observation is a data collection and interpretation methodology employing close researcher involvement with a group of organisational actors and their practices over a period of time. This chapter offers a comprehensive account and evaluation of this methodology and its potential application in accounting research. Set in the historical ethnographic context of the methodology’s development, it explores its identity and characteristics, observer role options, field site entry and exit strategies, the processes of observation and recording, researcher field experiences and relations. The chapter concludes by reflecting on a contemporary sample of accounting research studies employing participant observation.

Pages: 15

This chapter provides an overview of focus group discussions as a research method. Using illustrative examples, the chapter discusses the appropriateness of the technique for accounting research. This chapter then highlights both the strengths and drawbacks of the technique and provides guidance on how to mitigate the drawbacks. This chapter concludes with advice on the practical considerations for running focus group discussions and articulates the unique data analysis considerations of the technique.

Pages: 14

Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) is a qualitative research approach that is concerned with the detailed examination of the lived experience. Underpinned by phenomenological philosophy and hermeneutic theory, IPA is interested in elucidating a phenomenon through a focus on an embodied socio-historical situated person. This chapter offers a critical overview of interpretative phenomenological analysis as a qualitative method to counter the mainstream positivist accounting research. It discusses IPA’s philosophical underpinnings, key tenets, principles, and assumptions, concluding with a discussion on the opportunities and challenges of adopting IPA in practice.

Pages: 39

Computer assisted qualitative data analysis (CAQDAS) is now widely used to support the management, storage, coding and analysis of qualitative data. In accounting research there is much evidence of CAQDAS, but its application seems primarily related to coding and the management of data rather than analytical or writing tasks. This chapter discusses some of the most popular CAQDAS packages, reviewing the extent of their use in four leading accounting journals, and reflects on some of the tensions of using software for qualitative data analysis. The chapter concludes by briefly suggesting new directions for integrating CAQDAS in accounting scholarship.

Pages: 12

This chapter reviews the manner in which qualitative research methods have been mobilized, and related data have been analyzed and interpreted in three major management accounting research projects undertaken in our careers. Here, we will explain our choice of qualitative research methods embedded in our research to reflect upon our lineage of work. A concluding section is then offered to summarize and integrate our research efforts with a particular focus on the importance of the choice of qualitative research methods.

Pages: 112

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 17

The purpose of this chapter is to provide first-hand reflections on a case study research project from methodological choice to data collection and analysis. The researcher explicitly reveals ‘behind-the-scene’ decision-making processes and experiences from the project. These include the identification, explanation, logical justification, and execution of the chosen research methods; the associated challenges; and the management of these challenges. Readers may find that the researcher’s experiences reflect the complex and ‘no-single-recipe’ nature of case study. This chapter also offers comments and recommendations that readers may apply to their own research projects.

Pages: 20

This chapter presents the practical issues at stake when conducting an ethnomethodological accounting research project. Under this purview, I will borrow from my own experience where I wanted to see how churchgoers practice accountability to God in their daily lives through the most basic daily activities. This took me to studying seven congregations across four countries which allowed me to understand the mechanisms of ethnic appropriations of a formally prescribed system of accountability (to God) and however perceive patterns.

Pages: 21

Very few accounting scholars examine their process of becoming or unbecoming after engaging with autoethnography or discuss how this methodology can work as a living praxis that changes, moves or stirs the person who uses it. This chapter examines the author’s understanding and engagement with autoethnography through different phases of her academic life. Engaging with autoethnography has influenced and shaped her identity and academic development beyond her PhD study. This chapter contributes to the existing accounting academic literature by further exploring the aftermath and influence of engaging with autoethnography.

Pages: 15

This chapter draws on the general academic literature to identify the advantages and challenges of virtual field interviewing as compared with face-to-face-interviewing. These advantages and challenges are then evaluated in the light of the personal experience of the author who has to date, undertaken over 300 virtual field interviews via Skype, Zoom, or Teams. Insights from three separate studies involving the author, undertaken over the five-year period 2016–2024, will form the basis of this evaluation. The chapter concludes with some personal reflections on the future directions that virtual field research may take in contributing to the accounting research agenda.

Pages: 19

In this chapter we present three separate accounts detailing our personal ethical experiences and reflections during our qualitative study of an Australian, Vietnamese and Sri Lankan University. We each highlight the diverse ethical considerations and challenges faced at various phases of our research and provide overarching ethical principles for future qualitative researchers in the higher education field and conclude by proposing the need to take a holistic approach to ethics in qualitative research.

Pages: 18

Drawing on interviews with accounting scholars, I reflect on the everyday experiences of conducting qualitative research, highlighting the motivations driving qualitative researchers and the barriers they face. Engagement with qualitative research reflects pragmatic and ethical reasons, but also a specific ontological and epistemological worldview. This engagement is faced with widely diffused prejudices, a potential misalignment between a commercialized academic context and the specific features of qualitative research, and gatekeeping, which seems to be exacerbated by the ambiguity of assessment criteria. The chapter concludes with recommendations to reap the potential of qualitative research while minimizing the impact of challenges.