ABSTRACT
When a scholarly fi eld is new, researchers must make a large number of assumptions as they design their exploratory studies in order to begin generating knowledge about their focal phenomenon. As the research literature grows, the accumulation of knowledge reveals that some of these assumptions have outlived their usefulness such that the continued reliance on those faulty assumptions serves to slow down the growth of knowledge. Thus, scholarly fi elds need to continually examine the assumptions that underlie research design decisions, so they can expose weaker practices and thereby increase the precision of the research and the utility of their fi ndings.
