1 / 10

Transitioning into Qualitative Research

Transitioning into Qualitative Research. Dana R. Hermanson 2012 Auditing MYC. Outline. How/why did I get into this type of research? Opportunities Challenges “Things you might hear” – sample quotes from interview-based research Conclusion. The Beginning of “Why” – Fall 1990.

osman
Download Presentation

Transitioning into Qualitative Research

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Transitioning into Qualitative Research Dana R. Hermanson 2012 Auditing MYC

  2. Outline • How/why did I get into this type of research? • Opportunities • Challenges • “Things you might hear” – sample quotes from interview-based research • Conclusion

  3. The Beginning of “Why” – Fall 1990 • “What did the analysts say when you talked to them about the accounting information they use in developing earnings forecasts?” Heather Hermanson, first year doctoral student, University of Wisconsin • “What?? We don’t talk to analysts. We analyze archival data and draw conclusions. Analysts would not be able to tell us what they do.” Presenter at workshop in response to Heather’s question

  4. “How”: The Big Leap – Fall 2003 • “Guys, we have come into some unexpected funding for a research project. Maybe we should interview 40-50 U.S. audit committee members to better understand the AC process. Nobody has done that before.” Joe Carcello, visionary • “Sounds good – how do we do this?” Mark Beasley, Dana Hermanson, and Terry Neal, novice qualitative researchers • “We’ll figure it out.” Joe Carcello

  5. The Current State - 2012 • A second (third?) research career for me • The most enjoyable research I have done • Still climbing the learning curve • Primary focus on governance processes within board committees – AC (2009 CAR), CC (2012 CAR), CC in India (under review), NGC (under review), SPC (in process), etc. • With DBA students – practitioners and academic careers (2011 CIIA), Ponzi scheme victims (2012 JFIA), etc.

  6. Opportunities – What Can We Learn? • Understand a process – how and why questions • Dig into underlying thinking, perceptions, anecdotes • Appreciate subtle and sometimes conflicting considerations • Greatly deepen theoretical understanding – has completely altered my view of corporate governance, in particular

  7. Challenges – Learning How To Do This • Prior literature – methods, theories, “style”; Gendron (2009), Radcliffe (2010), etc. • Journal review process – discussant, editor, and “Reviewer 2” • Leaders in the area – other panelists, etc. • Theory – Cohen et al. (2008) has been great resource for me • Quotes and themes – develop these; that’s where the richness is • Diverse team – KSU team of ACCT, FIN, and MGT; different skills (Tompkins, Veliyath, Ye, Clune)

  8. Things You Might Hear • The fact of the matter is that we have no [director] search process. The last three directors were identified by the CEO and put through a mock process. NYSE NGC Chair • We did not want a friend of the CEO. We wanted someone who was independent and could challenge management on a deep level regarding the industry and could think outside the box. We did not want someone who was handpicked by the CEO. However, if the CEO did not like the person, we would be reluctant to bring that person in. NYSE NGC Member • There is very little that the audit committee can do in the fraud area unless it is absolutely glaring. NYSE AC chair

  9. Things You Might Hear • Top management compensation has gotten out of control. It’s difficult to put the genie back in the bottle because boards are also afraid of losing talented CEOs, and if the CEO does not leave, they get mad and that is not good either. Regulations might be necessary, but the government got it so wrong with the banking industry. They are so far from reality that it is not a winning strategy. Another problem is that consultants provide consistently escalating (pay) advice. . . “What is the right thing to do?” is not a question posed by consultants. NYSE CC member • I am not sure what you learn as a Ph.D. or what it adds. I am a CFO for a public company and feel that I know enough to teach. I cannot think of what else I would study as a Ph.D. Public company CFO

  10. Conclusion • Exceptionally rewarding work – fascinating discussions with high-level people • A lot of legwork in getting access to people – sponsors and connections help • Excellent complement to other types of research • Very well suited for Masters classroom use and presentations to practitioner groups • Still diverse views of this type of work, especially in the U.S. – varies widely by person and by journal

More Related