Abstract:The primary objective of accounting is to provide information that helps decision makers make better decisions. Yet knowledge about how accountants and other professionals make decisions is limited. This article examines verbal protocol analysis, a methodology that uses detailed process information to model decision making behavior. There are many protocol analysis techniques, with different ways to collect data and different ways to analyze it. The selection of a particular technique depends on the specific research objectives. The article concludes with an illustration of a detailed protocol analysis study and a discussion of its results.