In your dissertation or thesis, you will have to discuss the methods you used to undertake your research. The methodology or methods section explains what you did and how you did it, allowing readers to evaluate the reliability and validity of your research. It should include:
- The type of research you did
- How you collected and/or selected your data
- How you analyzed your data
- Any tools or materials you used in the research
- Your rationale for choosing these methods
The methodology section should generally be written in the past tense.
Step 1: Explain your methodological approach
Begin by introducing your overall approach to the research. What problem or question did you investigate, and what kind of data did you need to answer it?
- Quantitative methods (e.g. surveys) are best for measuring, ranking, categorizing, identifying patterns and making generalizations
- Qualitative methods (e.g. interviews) are best for describing, interpreting, contextualizing, and gaining in-depth insight into specific concepts or phenomena
- Mixed methods allow for a combination of numerical measurement and in-depth exploration
Depending on your discipline and approach, you might also begin with a discussion of the rationale and assumptions underpinning your methodology.
- Was your aim to address a practical or a theoretical problem?
- Why is this the most suitable approach to answering your research questions?
- Is this a standard methodology in your field or does it require justification?
- Were there any ethical or philosophical considerations?
- What are the criteria for validity and rigorousness in this type of research?
Step 2: Describe your methods of data collection and/or selection
Once you have introduced your overall methodological approach, you should give full details of the methods you used to conduct the research. Outline the tools, procedures, and materials you used to gather data, and the criteria you used to select participants or sources.
Quantitative methods
Surveys
Describe where, when, and how the survey was conducted.
- How did you design the questions and what form did they take (e.g. multiple-choice, rating scale)?
- How did you find and select participants?
- Did you conduct surveys by phone, mail, online or in-person, and how long did participants have to respond?
- What was the sample size and response rate?
You might want to include the full questionnaire as an appendix so that your reader can see exactly what data was collected.
Experiments
Give full details of the tools, techniques, and procedures you used to conduct the experiment.
- How did you design the experiment (e.g. between-subjects or within-subjects)?
- How did you find and select participants?
- What tools or technologies did you use in the experiment?
In experimental research, it is especially important to give enough detail for another researcher to reproduce your results.
Existing data
Explain how you gathered and selected material (such as publications or archival data) for inclusion in your analysis.
- Where did you source the material?
- How was the data originally produced?
- What criteria did you use to select material (e.g. date range)?
Step 3: Describe your methods of analysis
Next, you should indicate how you processed and analyzed the data. Avoid going into too much detail—you should not start presenting or discussing any of your results at this stage.
Quantitative methods
In quantitative research, your analysis will be based on numbers. In the methods section you might include:
- How you prepared the data before analyzing it (e.g. checking for missing data, removing outliers, transforming variables)
- Which software you used to analyze the data (e.g. SPSS or Stata)
- Which statistical methods you used (e.g. regression analysis)
Step 4: Evaluate and justify your methodological choices
Your methodology should make the case for why you chose these particular methods, especially if you did not take the most standard approach to your topic. Discuss why other methods were not suitable for your objectives, and show how this approach contributes new knowledge or understanding.
You can acknowledge limitations or weaknesses in the approach you chose, but justify why these were outweighed by the strengths. We hope these tips will help you. If you have any inquiries, visit here.