A case for multiple methods in management accounting research

The use of multiple methods in business and accounting research is not a new idea; however, the application of multiple methods is most usually advocated as an approach to the triangulation of research topics and themes on a between-studies basis. In 1997 Brownell and Whittred foreshadowed increased use of multiple methods within single study, management accounting research designs, and yet their prediction appears to have remained unrealised.The current paper revisits the literature concerning the use of multiple methods in management accounting research, with particular emphasis on within-study approaches. A case for using within-study multiple methods is made and illustrated with a practical example from a recent study of the role of costs in outsourcing decision-making in Australian public sector organisations. Emergent dimensions of this research study provided a basis to re-evaluate and augment the discussion of the advantages of within-study multiple methods in management accounting research proffered by Birnberg, Shields and Young (1990). Within this extended framework, a number of suggestions concerning the use of within-study multiple research methods are then offered.