Research methodology: principles, practices, and applications

Accounting Research

In the past decade, several scandals involving the improper management of financial data have emerged, bolstering the importance of accounting practices to the forefront of many industries. As a result, various research methodologies have been utilized to study the development of accounting theory. The development of accounting theory has early origins; a majority of the research was conducted in the 1950's and still continues to the present. Deductive, inductive and pragmatic research methods have successfully been applied to research in the accounting area, and variations of accounting research based on these basic foundations have become widespread. This paper will discuss and outline the deductive, inductive and pragmatic accounting research methodologies. It will also use include examples of accounting research that use each of the well-known research methods.

Deductive, Inductive & Pragmatic Research Methods & Examples

Deductive research strategies usually consist of non-empirical studies that are primarily verbal, descriptive-type articles where a logical conclusion follows from a set of assumptions or premises. An example of accounting research that uses this method is historical research that uses archival methods to study an issue of current interest. Also included in historical research are papers that trace the development of a practice or concept using secondary sources and book reviews of accounting classics (Fleming et.al., 2000). In addition, this category was interpreted to include inductive and legal research methods as well (Fleming et.al., 2000). Another accounting methodology used in deductive research is capital market studies, due to the fact that they use security prices to measure reaction or association.

Inductive research strategy has been described as assembling data, without making any judgments about their relative importance, and subjecting these patterns to further testing in order to establish scientific laws of nature or social life (Blaikie, 2007). In aaccounting research, the model used would be called analytical modeling, which consists of sstudies that use models with no specific underlying economic theory but use mathematical techniques. The mathematical formulas are applied to test and establish laws and accounting practices. Simulation, or the practice where the analysis is so complex that it requires a computer, is also an example of an inductive accounting practice research methodology.