Question

Your teacher advised you to conduct a research on topic in which you have lot of interest. You have different topics in your mind which could be selected for the research topic. You discussed with your teacher and finally decided to choose managerial accounting for research. Immediately you have started your work and decided to finish it in the coming 3 months. You have made a critical approach to your research, formulated a plan, collected information through questionnaire, analyze the data and you come up with your findings.

After all the hectic work done, you are done with your research work. Before making it final, you have consulted your teacher to review your research work. You were surprised to know that your teacher is not satisfied at all, and have a long list of findings.

a. How are you going to review your research work again to satisfy your teacher? State your answer with logical reasons.

b. In your opinion, to be a successful researcher, what ethical norms are required for effective and convincing research?

Answer 1

Ans. to (a)

Reviewing Research work on Managerial Accounting:

1. Be most attentive to the methods, data analysis and presentation, and data interpretation.

2. Keep descriptions of concerns as concise as possible.

3. Focus on substantial concerns. Grammar and punctuation may not be your concern.

4. Say exactly what you are thinking.

5. Your review document, comprised primarily of line numbers followed by comments corresponding to those lines of the research work / paper, should be no more than 3-5 pages long, double-spaced, size 12 font.

6. Decide, based on your review, whether the research work / paper should be accepted as is (rare); accepted pending minor revision (occasional); accepted pending acceptable full revision (pretty common); rejected with an invitation to resubmit a fully revised version (most common); or rejected (occasional). Indicate your thoughts on this to your teacher.

Ans. to (b)

Ethical norms required for effective and convincing research:

1. Honesty and Integrity

This means that you need to report your research honestly, and that this applies to your methods (what you did), your data, your results, and whether you have previously published any of it.

2. Objectivity

You should aim to avoid bias in any aspect of your research, including design, data analysis, interpretation, and peer review

3. Carefulness

Take care in carrying out your research to avoid careless mistakes. You should also review your work carefully and critically to ensure that your results are credible.

4. Openness

You should always be prepared to share your data and results, along with any new tools that you have developed, when you publish your findings, as this helps to further knowledge.

5. Respect for Intellectual Property

You should never plagiarise, or copy, other people’s work and try to pass it off as your own. You should always ask for permission before using other people’s tools or methods, unpublished data or results.

6. Confidentiality

You should respect anything that has been provided in confidence. You should also follow guidelines on protection of sensitive information such as company records.