A produção científica na área contábil: um perfil das pesquisas realizadas em um programa de mestrado no período de 2001 a 2010

Abstract

Scientific research is presented as a way to develop systematic responses to emerging global issues of the world of historical and human needs; its rationalization takes place through inquiries, questions and concerns. This study aimed to outline a profile of research studies developed by a master's program in accounting from 2001 to 2010, trying to identify advances and limitations and to highlight the levels of methodological appropriateness and the compliance with the quality standards of research in accounting. A descriptive qualitative approach was adopted to achieve those goals. Data were collected through documentary analysis and analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. We found that the master students' interest concentrated mainly on financial accounting with 131 (52%) conducted research studies, followed by controlling and management with 119 (48%) studies. The themes of greatest interest to researchers in those fields were performance management practices with 67 (27%) studies, followed by continued education and corporate training in accounting with 47 (19%) studies, and by accounting information and the capital market with 39 (16%) studies. Regarding the scientific features of the analyzed studies, we found greater compliance with the criteria related to \"how to research\", i.e., it was observed that the researchers aimed to elucidate aspects such as: a) research type; b) methods and techniques of data collection and analysis. We further observed that their difficulties were related to \"what and why\" research, such as greater clarity, delimitation, and articulation between: a) the title; b) the problem and; c) goals to be achieved. Regarding the scientific quality of the research abstracts, we found difficulties related to aspects such as: a) the approach and the type of the conducted research; b) the synthesis of the main findings and the conclusions of the study. We concluded that the main concern of researchers concentrated rather on methodological aspects than on epistemological and formal aspects. That fact shows that there are still difficulties in identifying the study object, in formulating the research question, its relation to the theme and the goals. The means should be defined according to the goals to be achieved and the solution of the investigated problems. In order to achieve a theoretical and methodological adequate and consistent level in scientific research, the epistemological aspects must be taken into account in the first place