This paper discusses an approach to introducing empirical accounting research design to Ph.D. students. The approach includes a framework for evaluating accounting experiments as well as studies based on passive observation of subjects or data. Alternative methods of isolating the effect of the "independent" variable of interest from effects of prior-to-the-study-period variables and contemporaneous variables are discussed along with the advantages and limitations of each method. Also discussed is the relationship between type I and type II error risks, sample size, and research design. The importance of research design, including theory development and means for mitigating the effects of extraneous variables, is emphasized as perhaps the only practical way to achieve research objectives in empirical research in accounting.
