ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an understanding of Interventionist Researches (IVR’s) origins and the governing principles essential to undertaking IVR in today’s world. This understanding includes the output that IVR can produce and the significance of that output to researchers and people in organisations. The chapter recognizes that IVR is one of many methodological choices for accounting researchers. It addresses the fundamental differences between IVR and other more traditional forms of research. IVR’s association with management accounting may be because management accounting owes its existence to real-world practice and functional issues. In reflecting on IVR as an umbrella concept, Baard and Dumay argue for researchers to adopt a ‘purist’ form of IVR to preserve the original intentions and scientific value of the methodology. Several scholars have attempted to argue for IVR’s potential value for accounting researchers. From cooperation emerged one of Lewin’s governing IVR principles, namely the essentiality of collaboration between researchers and research participants.
