This article draws together some of the legal and management literature relevant to the theory and design of qualitative empirical research in the field of corporate governance. It goes on to describe the methodology used by the authors in a project involving interviews with representatives of 67 Australian companies. One of the aims of the project was to examine the changing roles and responsibilities of company boards and directors following legal and regulatory reform. It is only through improving our knowledge of the day to day processes occurring in board rooms that we can really understand the complex relationship between the regulatory framework and the control of corporations in practice. Our evidence was that with regard to the Australian corporate governance framework, over-regulation is not as critical an issue as often suggested, instead the 'comply or explain' mechanism is well understood and permits sufficient flexibility for companies to find an acceptable cost-benefit balance.