What is a hypothesis and do you consider that accounting research should necessarily involve the development of empirically testable hypotheses?

If a researcher tested a theory on a particular sample of companies, what considerations would you examine before you would agree with the researcher that the results can be generalised to the larger population of companies?

If an accounting researcher adopts a particular accounting theory to predict which firms will make particular accounting disclosures, how much supporting evidence must the researcher gather before he or she can claim that the theory is proved? Explain your answer.

If you developed a theory to explain how a persons cultural background influences how they prepare financial statements, would you have developed a positive theory or a normative theory?