The nature and practice of interpretive accounting research

In interpretive research, the use of conversations, narratives and stories from ‘the field’ often provides the basis for researchers’ representations. Interviews are frequently seen as an important information source in such research (Ahrens and Chapman, 2006). Some academic authorities have thrown doubt on the reliability of data gained from interviews (Alvesson, 2003, 2010; Silverman, 2011). We argue here that researchers need to be more cognizant of the limitations and constraints of their theoretical, methodological and philosophical frameworks when conducting interpretive research. An example aims to illustrate this.