Doing Field Research: Practice and Meta-Theory in Counterpoint

This paper elucidates the craft of doing field research. Our discussion is presented in the form of two parallel texts. One text narrates the practical issues that surround our craft. Where possible, these issues have been illustrated from our own experience in doing management accounting field research. This text is intended to be a useful guide for novice researchers contemplating field research. However, even competent field researchers may practise this craft whilst being only vaguely aware of the larger philosophical currents that their research raises. We raise some of these larger ?meta-theoretical? currents in a second parallel but related text. It is our hope that by raising both practical and meta-theoretical issues, a more critically constituted craft of management accounting field research may emerge.