Experimental Research in Financial Reporting: From the Laboratory to the Virtual World

Virtual worlds can allow experimental researchers to create and examine settings with far more institutional complexity than is possible in a traditional laboratory setting. This document discusses how studies with greater complexity can complement more traditional experimental methods for those who are studying financial reporting; explores both the opportunities and challenges virtual worlds present to experimentalists; presents some examples of how to implement complex institutions; and discusses how the costs and benefits of the virtual-world laboratory vary across different experimental traditions.