Business Commons^™

Quantitative Research And The Critical Accounting Project, Alan J. Richardson

Odette School of Business Publications

The critical accounting project has largely shunned quantitative methods. While this is partly justified on philosophical grounds, the potential for quantitative methods to contribute to the critical accounting project is significant. This paper reviews the position of quantitative methods within critical theory and attempts to reclaim quantitative methods as a legitimate form of critical accounting research. The paper then identifies some aspects of the untapped potential of quantitative methods for the critical accounting project including exploring the vast unexplained variance in market models, developing alternative dependent variables for analysis, providing descriptive baselines for the assessment of social transformations, and the …