Data and case study research in accounting and finance

By this stage in your research you will have identified your research focus and defined your research questions. Attention should next be turned to how you plan to gather the necessary data to meet the requirements of your research project. Before collecting any data, however, it is important to carefully consider the issues related to the data collection process. Without careful consideration and adequate planning, it is easy to become somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of information that can be collected and end up ‘drowning in data’ (Berg and Lune, 2013, p.53) or to find yourself in the opposite situation of being unable to collect a sufficient amount of data because of a lack of appropriate sources. The first step in thinking about data, then, is to identify appropriate sources and plan how you are going to capture the required data from these sources. Different areas of accounting and finance research have different traditions for conducting research, which will have a direct impact on the researcher’s choice of data collection method. One method of collecting data, the case study approach, is a methodological process that utilises a wide range of data sources and techniques. The strengths, difficulties and practicalities of using this approach in a research project are discussed below in order to give you an opportunity to assess the applicability of this approach to your particular research focus and questions.