Half a Defence of Positive Accounting Research Written by Paul V Dunmore

Contents

Introduction        3

Summary of the Article        4

Research Question        5

Theoretical Framework        7

The Significance and Limitations of the Article        8

Conclusion        9

Bibliography        10

Introduction

The article “"Half a Defence of Positive Accounting Research “written by Paul V Dunmore introduced positive accounting theory and its implications in the organizational settings. Actually the article is about importance of positive accounting in the complex corporate world and its role in adding value the organizational productivity and efficiency.

In this paper the researcher states the critique of quantitative accounting research that need to be taken care. In this research limitation of the qualitative research are also discussed by the researcher. The researcher analyzes the positive approach of accounting research which is a part of scientific research. Positive or scientific research helps the research to analyze the cause and effect relationship. In the paper the researcher analyze that there are deficiencies in the way through which positive accounting research is performed. Such deficiencies in accounting research may prevent the research to make contribution in the area of accounting research. In the research the researcher also described limitation of the qualitative research.

The main objective of this assignment is to critically analyze the selected article. A critical analysis is different from critique as critique identifies the negative point whereas the critical analysis identifies the flaws in writings. The assignment will follow a specific structure that include summary of the article, research questions, theoretical framework, significance and potential limitations associated with the article and at the end the paper is concluded with a detailed conclusion.

Summary of the Article

The overall aim of this paper is to explain the human behavior in accounting settings because accounting discipline is designed by the human that assist in decision making and influence human behavior. The research of Gaffikin (2006) states, that accounting is mainly concerned with the financial reporting of organizations that helped the individual to make better decision on the basis of data (Gaffikin, 2006). According to Shil (2014), it is imperative for the finance managers that they have complete idea about their financial position, and should determine their growth on the basis of that position (Shil, 2014).

Positive accounting theory attempts to forecast the events in real world and transform its important toward accounting transaction. In accounting it is not important to examine what should be done in the result on an event but the accounting attempt to identify what are the reasons behind an event. Accounting theory predicts the exceptional event that happen in the organizational settings.

In the current paper the ontology and epistemological stance of positive research has examined. The review of these stances exposed serious deficiencies in the way positive research is conducted. The research finds that there is a need for better theoretical models that could be tested in detail. Because currently ad hoc quantitative models are used that cannot be tested because they are insufficiently developed. The study suggest there is need to carefully designed the theoretical models, thus that their concepts could be carefully operationalized. There is also need to choose the correct functional form of theories that has a linear relationship with other forms thus that several test could be performed.

The study also revealed that there is need to shift the focus from testing the hypothesis to estimation of hypothesis because hypothesis estimation uses a combination of statistical tools that helped the researcher to plan experiments, analyze data and interpret results in better manner (Rosa, et al., 2012). Moreover there is a need to measure the important concepts by testing the particular theories. There is also need to replicate the research and validate conclusion- by hypothesis testing, confirming accuracy of measurement and to explore the limits of applicability of research findings.

Research Question

The literature of the research states that in accounting, the scientific research used is described as positive. And in scientific research the most reliable information can be gathered through observation because through careful observation people can obtain fairly reliable information, but it is also mistaken to believe that the observations will never be incorrect. Observations are considered reliable because it facilitates to gain fair understanding of the world. In the literature it is explored that scientific research is being applied in the accounting but deficiencies in its implementation make the research far less effective than it is expected. From the review of different researches, it is explored that all the researches which aim of understanding the nature and causes of particular accounting phenomenon qualifies as positive or scientific accounting research as the scientific research identify the cause and effect phenomenon between the variables .

In the literature the positive ontology and epistemological stances are examined, ontology referred as study of reality and epistemology concerned with study of knowledge (Scotland, 2012) but the current literature indicates that ontology and epistemology are neither illogical or absurd or not correct. It is further explained that in social sciences researchers are too impatient for the study results which is not right thing to do. On the other hand scientific or positive researchers need to adopt such methods that are effective and that can turn observations into well grounded theory thus the more practical results could be derived.

Scientific research involved data collection whether qualitative or quantitative. In scientific research theories are sometimes inductively, inductive reasoning begins with collection of data through observation and patterns in the data are detected which results in formulation of hypotheses and finally end up testing and developing theory. But the research showed that induction cannot prove that developed theory is correct. Therefore it is important to test two or more theories against each other, rather than testing a single theory. As the positive research is based on cause and effect relationship in the objective world, therefore it facilitate in testing a theory.