本期我们向大家推送近期发表于会计顶级期刊CAR的一篇关于“经验会计研究自我评估要点”的论文，以供大家在论文写作及修改阶段参考，此篇论文作者包括The Accounting Review的Senior Editor—Evans教授以及Management Accounting Research的Editor in Chief--Van der Stede教授等。由于篇幅所限，我们仅整理了论文的摘要和评估要点目录，具体如下：
Evans J H, et al. Points to Consider When Self-Assessing Your Empirical Accounting Research. Contemporary Accounting Research. 2015, 32(3): 1162-1192.
Points to Consider When Self-Assessing Your Empirical Accounting Research
JOHN HARRY EVANS III, University of Pittsburgh
MEI FENG, University of Pittsburgh and Visited at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business
VICKYB. HOFFMA N, University of Pittsburgh
DONALD V. MOSER, University of Pittsburgh
WIM A. VAN DER STEDE, London School of Economics
Abstract: We provide a list of points to consider (PTCs) to help researchers self-assess whether they have addressed certain common issues that arise frequently in accounting research seminars and in reviewers’ and editors’ comments on papers submitted to journals. Anticipating and addressing such issues can help accounting researchers, especially doctoral students and junior faculty members, convert an initial empirical accounting research idea into a thoughtful and carefully designed study. Doing this also allows outside readers to provide more beneficial feedback rather than commenting on the common issues that could have been dealt with in advance. The list, provided in the appendix, consists of five sections: Research Question; Theory; Contribution; Research Design and Analysis; and Interpretation of Results and Conclusions. In each section, we include critical items that readers, journal referees, and seminar participants are likely to raise and offer suggestions for how to address them. The text elaborates on some of the more challenging items, such as how to increase a study's contribution, and provides examples of how such issues have been effectively addressed in previous accounting studies.
Figure 1 Summary of list of points to consider (PTCs) when self-assessing your empirical accounting research
1. Research Question: What is your precise research question?
Be clear in your mind and in your manuscript concerning:
a. The meaning of key terms in the research question
b. The scope of the research question
c. Whether the research question involves a causal relation or an association
2. Theory: Is your study’s conceptual framework logically consistent and credible?
a. Develop your conceptual framework by applying theoretical arguments and/or previous empirical findings to a specific setting
b. Explain how your study distinguishes among alternative explanations for your predictions, or discuss why it is not important to do so in your setting
3. Contribution: What does your study add to our understand ing of accounting?
a. Establish how your study is new and interesting relative to the prior literature
i. The topic itself is interesting and important
ii. The study is differentiated from and extends prior literature
b. Identify important implications in terms of actions or beliefs that will change based on your study
4. Research design and analysis
a. Research design and analysis for Archival Studies
i. Select the appropriate sample, proxies, and empirical models
ii. Consider alternative explanations
iii. Conduct tests to support your theory and rule out alternative explanations
b. Research design and analysis for Experimental Studies
i. Consider in advance which design and operationalization of variables provide the best test of your theory and help rule out alternative explanations
ii. Consider potential mediating or moderating variables that would be consistent with your theory and inconsistent with alternative explanations
iii. Consider incorporating a predicted interaction to control for potential omitted variables
iv. Conduct tests to support your theory and rule out alternative explanations
c. Research design and analysis for Field Studies
i. Establish field data reliability
ii. Ensurethe validity of the field study inferences
d. Research design and analysis for Survey Studies
i. Match the design of the survey with the purpose of the study
ii. Establish survey data generalizability
iii. Ensure the internal validity of the survey study inferences
5. Interpretation of results and conclusions
a. Interpretation of empirical results
i. Describe the statistical significance, and the economic magnitude or effect size of the results, if applicable
ii. Discuss and justify the pattern and magnitude of the results based on your story and findings in prior studies
iii. If data support only part of the predicted pattern, or if different analyses lead to different statistical inferences, consider possible reasons for this to evaluate the reliability of your findings
b. Conclusions
i. Relate your conclusions back to your motivation and research question
ii. Avoid over-generalizing or over-concluding
iii. Discuss the contribution and implications of your finding
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