What is a Research Methodology?
A research methodology is a plan that tells how you answered your research question. A research methodology is a plan for a study that will collect data, show an analysis of the data, and then include a conclusion based on that analysis.
Some researchers use qualitative techniques to get their point across, while others use quantitative methods to gather information.
The research methodology chapter is where you explain to the readers what you did and how. So, they can evaluate the authenticity of our findings by reading this section.
Elements of a Research Methodology
A good research methodology has the following elements:
- Type of research
- Data collection methodology
- Data analysis
- Tools or materials used in the research
- The reason behind choosing a method
- Limitations of the method
- References and citations
Purpose of Writing a Research Methodology
A research methodology could be written for the following purposes:
- To provide a thorough analysis of the researched topic.
- To evaluate the overall validity and reliability of a study.
- To gather information which they then evaluate using scientific methods.
- To help other researchers in forming their own research methodologies.
Let’s move on to reading how you can write a strong research methodology.
10 Steps to Write a Research Methodology
Writing a research methodology will not remain a difficult task for you anymore as you follow the below-mentioned 10 simple steps.
1. Restate your Thesis Statement/ Research Problem
The first part of your methodology is that you restate your research problem or your thesis statement. This gives the reader an idea about what you are discussing.
You can also list any positive or negative assumptions regarding the problem, which are addressed through the methodology.
2. Explain Your Methodological Approach
Write about the broader approach of your research and how it fulfills your research goals. You should be as clear and concise with your approach as possible.
For example, did you aim for something in-depth or broad? Are you exploring an under-researched topic or establishing cause & effect relationships between variables of interest? What type of data was required? etc.
3. Describe the Data Collection Methods
After introducing the methodological approach, define how you will collect your data.
Depending upon your research approach, data is either collected through a qualitative process or a quantitative process. Some researchers also tend to take a mixed approach.
Each of these is further explained below.
a. Quantitative Data Collection Methods
Quantitative research methods are when researchers use numbers to find answers. The researcher should tell the other researcher how they did their studies so they can do it too.
Explain how you measured variables and operational concepts, and discuss the sampling method, materials, tools, and procedures used to gather data.
Some popular quantitative research methods are listed below:
- Surveys
A survey is a study of a group of people to find out their thoughts and feelings. A survey can be done in many different ways. You need to mention the details of it like:
- How did you design the questionnaire, and what form does it take (e.g., multiple-choice, Likert scale)?
- How did you go about selecting participants for your study?
- How did you ask people to participate in your research study, and what was their response time? Was it by phone, email, or in-person communication?
- What was the sample size and response rate to get these results?
Data collection should always be transparent. So, it's important to include the full questionnaire in the appendix. Don’t hide any questions from readers who want more information about your research methods.
- Experiments
You should tell the reader what tools you used, how you did the experiment, and what you found. Following details need to be mentioned:
- Experiment design
- Participant recruitment
- Manipulation and measurement of variables
- Tools and techniques used for conducting the experiment
It is important to make sure your results can be reproduced in order for them to have any real impact. So, make sure to provide enough details.
- Review of the Existing Data
You can also take help from the existing data. Explain the inclusion criteria for using some data or literature. For instance, why you chose a publication, a case study, etc.
Here you need to inform the reader about:
- Where did you get the material, and how did you source it?
- How was the data originally produced?
- How much data or information have you used, e.g. the data range?
This was all about quantitative methods. Now let’s move on to the qualitative methods for data collection.
Quantitative Data Collection Methodology Example “The survey was conducted with 350 customers of Company X on the premises in The Hague from 4-8 July 2017. A customer was defined as someone who has purchased a product that day, and they were given five minutes to complete it anonymously. The survey consisted of 5 multiple-choice questions and 10 that were measured on a 7 point Likert scale.” |
b. Qualitative Data Collection Methods
Qualitative research focuses on collecting data from open-ended communication, which allows the researcher to generate new ideas for their own research and analyze people's motivations.
The most common qualitative methods are:
- Interviews
A focus group is when a lot of people come together to talk about a topic. You need to tell:
- How were the interviews or focus groups conducted?
- What was your process or criteria for selecting participants?
- How many people took part in this study?
- How did you format the interview questions? Structured, semi-structured, or unstructured?
- When and how often were the interviews recorded? What was the time span?
- Participant Observation
Your observations and ethnographic research are included in the participant observation. You need to tell where, when, and how you observe the participants.
You need to answer the following questions here:
- Who were these participants, and how did you gain access to them?
- Where did you conduct your research, and how long did it take?
- How did you contribute to the community?
- How did you record your data? Was it audiovisual recordings or careful note-taking, and what kind of equipment was used for the process?
Qualitative Data Collection Methodology Example “Company X wants to find out what improvements could be made in the product line. To do this, they conducted semi-structured interviews with 8 returning customers who buy from them at least twice per week and belong to their main target group: 20 - 45-year-olds. The surveys were used as a tool for selecting participants (n=8) who fit into this category—people between those age ranges that live near one another downtown Chicago or have similar lifestyles, including shopping habits.” |
c. Mixed Data Collection Methods
The mixed-methods approach is a new way to look at social relations, combining the best of both worlds and overcoming their limitations.
The existence of this methodology stems from its potential for researchers who want clarity when viewing society's intricacies. They do this by fusing quantitative data with qualitative research while still recognizing that not all approaches can be used in every situation.
Mixed methods are also known for the concept of triangulation in social research. Triangulations provide researchers with an opportunity to present multiple findings from one phenomenon by deploying both quantitative and qualitative approaches simultaneously.
4. Establish a Methodological Connection
The connection between the methods and research problems should be clear.
It means that your methodology must be appropriate to achieve the objectives of a research paper. This includes addressing any issues in need with an applicable design or analysis approach for it.
5. Introduce your Instruments
Indicate the instruments you will use in collecting data and explain how they will be used for this research project.
These tools might include questionnaires, interviews, observation sessions, historical documents from previous research projects done by other organizations, etc.
6. Describe the Data Analysis Methodology
Next, you should indicate how the data was processed and analyzed. Avoid going into too much detail until now. You don't have to present or discuss any of your results yet!
Both the quantitative and qualitative data sets are analyzed according to their particular analytical methods.
a. Quantitative Data Analysis Method
In quantitative research, the numbers are your best friend. You'll need them to understand what's going on in any dataset before running any statistical tests.
Furthermore, you need to inform the readers about the following things:
- Data preparation: How was it made informed, how the errors were omitted, etc.
- Data analysis software
- The statistical analysis test employed
Quantitative Analysis Example “In order to investigate the data, it was prepared and checked for missing values. Values that were outside of calculated ranges were considered outliers using an "outlier labeling rule" created by Hoaglin & Iglewicz (1987). Then statistical software SPSS was used in analyzing results for this study.” |
b. Qualitative Data Analysis Method
In qualitative research, your analysis will be based on language and images. You might find that you use some form of textual analysis to make sense out of your data as well.
Some qualitative methods include:
- Content Analysis: Content analysis is the process of categorizing and discussing words, phrases, or sentences with a specific meaning.
- Thematic Analysis: Thematic analysis is the process of closely examining data to identify broad themes and patterns. This type of research helps us see things in new ways, creating opportunities for more detailed study or intervention efforts.
- Discourse Analysis: Discourse analysis is the study of how language, objects, and meaning interact with one another in order to convey a message.
Qualitative Analysis Example “The interview transcripts were transcribed, and thematic analysis was conducted. This involved coding all the data before identifying six key themes. Each of these had to be examined to gain an understanding of participants' perceptions and their motivations behind them.” |
7. Justify your Choice of Methodology
The most important thing in research is that the methodology should make a strong case for why you have chosen methods specifically. This is especially if your topic did not take an easier route.
So make sure it comes with some explanation on how this approach contributed to new knowledge. Or how it elaborates the current understanding.
Also, mention any limitations or weaknesses where they exist. But still, the strengths of the methodology outweigh the limitations.
8. Include Some Background Information
In order for your readers to understand what you are doing, make sure they know the background information about these methods. You should especially tell the background information if your chosen methodology is relatively new or the reader is unfamiliar with it.
9. Address Research Limitations
Make sure to address possible issues with your data-gathering process that may affect the outcome. These are known as the research limitations. They include practical limitations and precautions or a risk factor involved.
- These limitations have to be addressed to obtain accurate results. Thus, anyone who replicates your study should know the potential limitations and how you overcame them.
10. Cite All Sources
To reinforce the validity of your research, you will need to cite all sources that were used when determining methodology. This includes academic references and other resources such as journals or books for outside reading material to keep it more thorough in its analysis.
These were 10 simple steps that you can easily follow to create a stellar research methodology section for your paper.
Tips for Writing a Good Research Methodology
When writing a research methodology, use these tips to help you.
- Focus on the Research Problem
The methodology section shows why your methods suit what you were trying to accomplish. It also convinces the reader that the method was perfectly chosen for answering all research questions. Throughout, use relevant examples to show how well thought-through everything was to achieve the research objectives.
- Write According to the Target Audience
Give the reader the information they need. If you use a standard approach in your field, you do not need to explain too much. But if you take a different approach, you might need to explain it. So, your method should be a well-structured argument.
- Tell the Means and Reasons
You can show how and why you conducted your research by including a brief description of it. This will help demonstrate that the methods used are rigorous and provide context for those who may be unfamiliar with them.
- Draft During the Process
Make sure to draft as you go, take notes, and outline your methodology so that all details can be accurately captured. The better an author records their methods and techniques in real-time, the more thorough they will become when they're done with the project.
These tips will help in easing your research methodology writing.
Things to Avoid While Writing a Research Methodology
Avoiding the below-mentioned points will help you write effectively:
- Avoid Irrelevant Details
The methodology section should be detailed but concise. You should not include background information that does not help the reader understand why a certain method was chosen, how data was gathered, or how data was analyzed.
- Do Not Elaborate the Procedures Unnecessarily
Do not write about how to do a method. Your readers know how to investigate research problems on their own. Talk about what you did with the information you got from that investigation.
If you use an unconventional approach, explain why it is good and how it helped your discovery.
- Never Become Problem Blinded
When you collect or generate data, or when you look at old data, it is possible that problems will happen. Problems can happen, and they might make it hard for you to do your work.
Do not ignore these problems and pretend like they didn't happen. But also make sure to document the problem and how you overcame the problem so that people know what happened and why it happened.
- Not a Literature Section
A research project's methodology should not be confused with a list of sources. It is useful in itself, especially if it includes an explanation about the selection and use for each individual piece of information gathered during the research.
Also, keep in mind that your methodology section is different from your literature review section.
Writing a research methodology is the best way to make your paper stand out, and it's also an excellent way to build credibility.
As the research methodology is a crucial part of any study, it needs to be written with care and attention. The goal should not just be one that satisfies a checklist but also communicates your ideas effectively.
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