From the Lab to the Field and vice versa 2006 ABO Doctoral Consortium October 6, 2006 1.What is field research? 2.Why field research? Woods (WIP) Krishnan,

From the Lab to the Fieldand vice versa

2006 ABO Doctoral Consortium October 6, 2006

1. What is field research?2. Why field research?

• Woods (WIP)• Krishnan, Sedatole & Woods (WIP)

3. Doing field research

2

What IS field research?

3

What IS field research?

less firm contact

more firmcontact

CASE STUDY-----------------------• may or may not

collect data• descriptive rather

than statistical generalizations

• single firm

FIELD STUDY-----------------------• historical data or data

generated in the field• not publicly available• typically a single

firm

PROPRIETARYARCHIVAL-----------------------• historical data• not publicly available (Hewitt & Assoc., Nielsen/NetRatings)• multiple firms

PUBLICARCHIVAL----------------------- • historical data• publicly available

(COMPUSTAT, EXECUCOMP, proxy statements)

• multiple firms

4

What IS field research?

Field research is more than a quick dip in the

organizational pond for institutional detail; it is a deep dive that demands involvement.

Observe members …Interact with members …

Participate with members … Membership

(Adler and Adler 1987 taxonomy of researcher involvement)

5

WHY field research?

6

WHY Field Research?

Advantages

– Low likelihood of being scooped– Rich institutional detail

» Assists in interpreting findings» Understanding of the data generating process» Fun to present (and to see presented)

– Can turn several levers at once

7

WHY Field Research?

Plus (on a lighter note), you don’t have to…

– be nice to MBA student subjects– stuff 200 envelopes– carry around wads of cash– fight for IRB approval (??)

8

WHY Field Research?

Disadvantages

– Costly … time and dollars– Generalizability (relative to n=10,000 archival studies)

» sometimes difficult to publish results– Risks of …

» being held hostage by research partner» losing your “champion”

Access is always provisional.

– Corporate lawyers– Quasi-experimental design

» Control through measurement» No random assignment

– Have to turn several levers at once

9

WHY Field Research?

What can the “field” add to archival studies?

Field research is more likely to detect and accommodate organizational dynamics

than other empirical approaches that assume stable functional relations.

(Kaplan, 1983,1984)

10

WHY Field Research?

What can the “field” add to archival studies?

Even if data can be obtained without field experience,

» Large public databases» Large private third party databases » Firms’ data “warehouses” » Electronic alternatives to interviews, mail and telephone surveys

they may not be interpretable or comparable across time or organizations. Standard measures offer increased sample size --- but sometimes at the price of meaningful data.

11

WHY Field Research?

less firm contact

more firmcontact

FIELD STUDY-----------------------• historical data or data

generated in the field• not publicly available• typically a single

firm

EXPERIMENTSTUDENT PROFESSIONALSUBJECTS SUBJECTS

What can the “field” add to laboratory studies?

12

WHY Field Research?

less firm contact

more firmcontact

FIELD STUDY-----------------------• historical data or data

generated in the field• not publicly available• typically a single

firm

EXPERIMENTSTUDENT PROFESSIONALSUBJECTS SUBJECTS

Extend to field?(external validity)

What can the “field” add to laboratory studies?

13

WHY Field Research?

less firm contact

more firmcontact

FIELD STUDY-----------------------• historical data or data

generated in the field• not publicly available• typically a single

firm

EXPERIMENTSTUDENT PROFESSIONALSUBJECTS SUBJECTS

Inform:• research question (motivation)• experimental design (construct & external validity)

What can the “field” add to laboratory studies?

14

WHY Field Research? EXAMPLE

Subjective Performance Evaluations

DeficientAccountingPerformance

Measures+

Managers HavePrivate InformationAbout Subordinate

Performance=

Subjective EvaluationsCan Improve

Incentive Contracting

BUTEvidence that bias is common in subjective evaluations:

• empire-building

• leniency

• halo effect

• compression

15

WHY Field Research? EXAMPLE

Woods (experiment)

KSW(field)

Subjective Performance Assessment Measure Measure

Evaluation Bias

-Empire Building Induce Measure

-Leniency n/a Measure

-Halo n/a Measure

-Compression n/a Measure

PM Characteristics Control Measure

Delegation Manipulate Measure

Information Asymmetry Manipulate n/a

Do firms reap the benefits of subjective performance evaluation?

16

WHY Field Research? EXAMPLE

Woods (WIP)(Experiment)

KSW (WIP)(Field)

Do firms reap the benefits of subjective performance evaluation?

Complementary studies, different methodologies.

To what extent do biases actually exist? Does delegation appear to mitigate empire-building?

Remedies that mitigate the biases. Less costly to try in lab first!

17

Doing Field Research

“ Competent field researchers, like good cooks, acquire a significant amount of knowledge about their craft as a result of ‘hands on’ experience, experimentation and

adaptation in the field…” (Baxter and Chua 1998)

» Gaining access» Developing the study

18

Doing Field Research: Gaining Access

Local Opportunism– Formal university contacts (e.g., research centers)– Ex-students– Student “internship” courses– Colleagues, friends, relatives

Opportunism by Design– Broad mail survey with follow-up– Cold calls based on public information– Alliances with associations and consultants

Make new friends, keep the old,One is silver, and they’re both potential data sources.

19

Doing Field Research: Gaining Access

Selling the idea– What’s in it for the research partner?

» focus on “real” problems» expertise at the right price» impartiality… maybe

Ex ante arrangements– Confidentiality agreements

» Researcher retains ownership of intellectual propertyprovides “user friendly” deliverable

» Partner has veto power regarding confidential informationguarantees speedy review

– Both parties establish boundaries and constraints on the problem to be studied

20

Doing Field Research: Development

Developing the study– Multi-method approach to data collection

» Observation» Personal interviews» Proprietary archival search» Surveys

– Research question is your guide» Use it as you sift through a sea of data» Iterative development of hypotheses

Few field studies begin with strong hypotheses; flexible ‘foreshadowed’ problems are more common starting points.”

Baxter & Chua 1998

21

USEFUL REFERENCES

Anderson, S. W. and S. K. Widener. 2006. Doing quantitative field research in management accounting. In C. Chapman, A. Hopwood, and M. Shields (Eds.), Handbook of management accounting research, Vol. 1. Oxford: Elsevier.

Atkinson, A. A. & Shaffir, W. (1998). Standards for field research in management accounting. Journal of Management Accounting Research 10: 41-68.

Baxter, J. A. & Chua, W. F. (1998). Doing field research: Practice and meta-theory in counterpoint. Journal of Management Accounting Research 10: 69-87.

Bennis, W. G. & O’Toole, J. (2005). How business schools lost their way. Harvard Business Review May: 96-104. Birnberg, J. G., Shields, M. D., & Young, S. M. (1990). The case for multiple methods in empirical management

accounting research (with an illustration from budget setting). Journal of Management Accounting Research 2: 33-66. Bruns, W. J. & Kaplan, R. S. (1987). Field studies in management accounting in Bruns, W.J. and Kaplan, R.S. (Eds)

Accounting and Management: Field Study Perspectives. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Eisenhardt, K.M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review 14: 532-550. Ferrreira, L.D. & Merchant, K.A. (1992). Field research in management accounting and control: A review and evaluation.

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal 5: 3-34. Hagg, I. & Hedlund, G. (1979). “Case studies” in accounting research. Accounting, Organizations and Society 4: 135-

143. Hopwood, A.G. (1983). On trying to study accounting in the contexts in which it operates. Accounting, Organizations

and Society 8: 287-305. Jick, T. D. (1979). Mixing qualitative and quantitative methods: Triangulation in action. Administrative Science

Quarterly 24: 602-611. Kaplan, R.S. (1983). Measuring manufacturing performance: A new challenge for management accounting research. The

Accounting Review 63: 156-193. Lillis, A.M. (1999). A framework for the analysis of interview data from multiple field research sites. Accounting and

Finance 39: 79-105. Merchant, K.A. & Van der Stede, W.A. (2005). Field-based research in accounting: Accomplishments and Prospects.

Working Paper. University of Southern California. Moers, F. (2006). Doing Archival Research in Management Accounting. In C.S. Chapman, A.G. Hopwood, & M.D.

Shields (Eds.), Handbook of Management Accounting Research (Vol. 1). Oxford: Elsevier. Shields, M.D. (1997). Research in management accounting by North Americans in the 1990s. Journal of Management

Accounting Research 9: 3-61. Young, S.M. (1999). Field research methods in management accounting. Accounting Horizons 13: 76-84.

22

In conclusion…

“You’re at the front end of a search process to figure out who you are and where you fit.”

Joel Demski, New Faculty Consortium, 2001

“Now is the time to take a deep breath and realize that you are in this for the long haul.”

Bill Kinney, The University of Texas at Austin