Research of Accounting Practices: Assignment for Business Students

This assignment delves into various aspects of accounting research, starting with an exploration of worldviews in qualitative and quantitative research. It presents research questions suitable for both qualitative and quantitative studies, focusing on business-related scenarios. The assignment then analyzes an article, examining its research design, hypothesis formulation, and variable operationalization. It differentiates between content and construct validity, explains the role of variables in qualitative studies, and clarifies the differences between mediating and moderating variables. Finally, it provides corrected references in different formats, covering books, articles, and book chapters. The assignment provides a comprehensive overview of research methodologies and their applications within the field of accounting.

Research of Accounting Practices
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Q1. Worldview linked with qualitative research
Worldview is related to the common set of belief and assumptions that linked with the
qualitative approach to guide actions in the research. The qualitative research is linked with
social constructive and worldview. Social constructive worldview is the focused on the
individuals understanding and views towards a certain object or thing. This subjective approach
is based on researcher’s experiences and situations that a participant faces and inferred to reach
the goal of research. This worldview has open ended approach that enables the participant to
communicate their experience easily. An advocacy or participatory worldview is related with the
qualitative research that approaches the political and politics agenda and inquire in the research
accordingly. This research includes social issue such as alienation, oppression, suppression,
inequality, empowerment and dominations. It is also known as transformative worldview
(Brannen, 2017).
Q2. Worldview linked with quantitative research
Post-positivist worldview is the assumption based on scientific method also known as
empirical science. Positivism is more linked with the quantitative research than qualitative
research. The post positivism research involves evidences, data and significance of assumptions
to construct useful information. The information is being collected by the researcher either by
observation recordings or based on measurements from various instruments. However, in
pragmatism worldview, the researcher is free to choose methods, assumptions and technique to
execute research that best meet their purposes and need (Brannen, 2017).
Q3. Business research question addressing qualitative research study
What strategies are being used by organisations situated in remote areas related to the
health and wellness of workers in the workplace?
Q4. Business research question addressing quantitative research study
What are the key factors that influence the choice of career in Norwegian university
students?
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Q5. a) Qualitative or quantitative approach in the article and explain information about
the article
b) Research design?
c) Hypothesis in null or alternative format, explain?
d) Hypothesis directional or no directional, explain?
e) Explanation by the authors for using the expected hypothesis
f) Population from which participants
g) Main variable in the study and how they are operationalised in article
h) Two factors that explains the research is well written piece of research
Q 6 a) research design
The present study incorporates the use of descriptive research design. The study is
qualitative in nature and collects descriptive data through the use of survey methods for
determining the casual relationships (Bartlett et al., 2016).
b) 2*6 plan, who makes up the six group
The present research study examines the factors influencing non-accounting business
professionals in internal auditing through the use of 2*6 experiments. The six groups are formed
by 502 business students selected from the four universities (Bartlett et al., 2016).
c) Intervention applied to one of the group and not other
Based on the result of 2*6 experiment, there are mainly two types of participants, that
are, high academically performing and low academically performing participants. An additional
survey has been done on 46 lower academically performing participants for evaluating their
interest of working in internal audit (Bartlett et al., 2016).
d) Purpose of manipulation test
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The manipulation test has been done for identifying the interest of the students in job
positions other than internal audit belonging to different backgrounds. For the purpose, the label
‘employee’ has been used for non-internal audit job positions for evaluating whether the students
are more interested in auditing or non-auditing job profiles (Bartlett et al., 2016).
e) Define the term control variable
The term ‘control variable’ refers to the variable that is held constant during carrying out
an experiment for the purpose of evaluating the relationship between dependent and independent
variables (Bartlett et al., 2016).
f) Identify control variables in article
The control variables in article include gender, completion of internship of participants
and number of months of business experience the participants possess (Bartlett et al., 2016).
g) Advantage and disadvantage of using student in study
The major advantage of using student in the study is that it helped in determining the
future interest of non-accounting professional’s towards the job position of internal auditing.
However, the major drawback is that it does not help in assessing the current factors that impact
the recruitment of non-accounting business professionals into internal auditing job roles (Bartlett
et al., 2016).
Q7. a) Difference between content and construct validity
Content validity is an important research methodology term that indicates how effective
the test measures during a research experiment were able to interpret the behaviour for which
they were selected. On the other, construct validity refers to the extent to which practical tests
developed from a theory are able to measure construct as obtained from the particular theory
(Creswell and Clark, 2011).
b) Purpose of a variable in a qualitative study
The relation between dependent and independent variables are highly critical in attaining
the conclusions of qualitative studies. The independent variables are those variables that can be
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manipulated in the study for evaluating their impact on the dependent variables (Creswell and
Clark, 2011).
c) Difference between mediating and moderating variable
The mediating variables are used to explain the relationship between dependent and
independent variables in a research study. On the other hand, moderating variable is a variable
that impacts the strength of relation between dependent and independent variables (Creswell and
Clark, 2011).
Q8. Reference Correction
a. Book
Given, L. 2016. 100 questions (and answers) about qualitative research. Sage.
b. An article
Daff, L. 2012. Lessons from successes in medical communication training and their applications
to accounting education. Accounting Education: An International Journal 21, pp. 385-405.
c. A chapter in a book
Amernic, J., 2013. Perspectives on the Role of Metaphor, In: Jack, L., Davison, J., Craig, R. eds.
Routledge Companion to Accounting Communication. Routledge: Abingdon, Oxon, pp. 94-108.
d. An article on a web site
Daff, L. 2017. Accountants and their Intra-Organisational Communication in the Not-For-Profit
(NFP) Sector. [Online]. Available at:
https://confidentcommunicators.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/executivesummary-of-
doctorate.pdf [Accessed on 2nd October, 2017].
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Bibliography
Bartlett, G.D., Kremin, J, Saunders, K.K., and Wood, D.A. 2016. Factors influencing recruitment
of non-accounting business professionals into internal auditing. Behavioral Research in
Accounting 29 (1), pp. 119-30.
Brannen, J. 2017. Mixing Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Research. Routledge.
Creswell, J. W. and Clark, V. 2011. Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research.
SAGE.
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