This paper discusses the role of process evidence in accounting research. We define process evidence broadly as data providing insight into how and why cause-effect relationships occur, and we provide a framework to guide the provision and evaluation of process evidence in accounting studies. Our definition allows for an expanded understanding of techniques for gathering process evidence. The framework highlights the importance of the study’s goals and theory in choosing how to provide process evidence as well as how much process evidence to provide. The paper also outlines the strengths and limitations of three approaches to providing process evidence: mediation, moderation, and multiple-study based designs. We provide recommendations for best practices for each approach to minimize threats to validity and maximize the value of process evidence.

中文翻译：

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会计实验中的理论检验和过程证据

本文讨论了过程证据在会计研究中的作用。我们将流程证据广义地定义为提供洞察因果关系发生方式和原因的数据，并且我们提供了一个框架来指导会计研究中流程证据的提供和评估。我们的定义允许扩展对收集过程证据的技术的理解。该框架强调了研究目标和理论在选择如何提供过程证据以及提供多少过程证据方面的重要性。本文还概述了提供过程证据的三种方法的优势和局限性：调解、适度和基于多项研究的设计。我们为每种方法提供最佳实践建议，以最大限度地减少对有效性的威胁并最大限度地提高过程证据的价值。