Academic Writing Guide

What is the purpose of the methodology section? 

The purpose of the methodology section is to describe the step by step process for creating your study. Readers will use the information in this section to evaluate the quality of your article. The most important thing to remember is that the purpose of the methodology is how you conducted your study only. Save your results or analysis for the results or discussion sections. 

The methodology should include: 

• The number of participants at the beginning of the study as well as the end.
• Characteristics of the participants pertinent to the study
  • Examples: Gender, race,  socio-economic status, profession, level of education, etc. 
• How the participants provided the data. ( surveys, interviews, etc.)
  • Did you use an existing instrument or did you make your own? 
• How the data was analyzed. 
  • Did you use a program to analyze the data?
  • Did the same individuals who collected the data, analyze it as well?
  • Was the identifiable participant data removed before it was analyzed?

Why is the content of the methodology is important?

The content and structure of your methodology is important for a few reasons:

• Readers should not only be interested in what data itself reveals, but the process that goes into collecting the data. Part of the evaluation process is to see the process you went through to obtain your data. 
• There are many reasons that readers may be interested in your paper. One of the reasons is they are not only interested in your particular topic, but the research method itself. Remember in research, there can be multiple methods for investigating a research problem. 
• The research method you choose may guide the outcomes of your data as well as the analysis. A strong methodology section will prepare the readers for the data in the results and discussion section.
• If you are developing a new method or instrument, Readers must be able to follow your process so they can replicate it in their own studies. In research, one study is not enough evidence for any claim. To make any assumption or claim, multiple studies have to be replicated with different sample sizes. 

Research methods in the social sciences can be divided into two distinct types, qualitative or quantitative. 

Qualitative Research typically collects descriptive data. In other words it collects non-numerical data in formats such as open-ended questionnaires, focus groups, unstructured interviews or observations. Of the two types of research data, qualitative is usually harder to analyze because of the variability of the data itself. You will typically see qualitative research methods used in case studies where people are asked on how they feel. This data typically takes longer to analyze because patterns need to be identified. As a result of the variability of the data, qualitative methods are usually idea for a small sample size or cohort. 

Quantitative research typically collects numerical data that will be represented in statistics. This data is collected typically in various types of surveys. These surveys include online surveys, face-to-face surveys, face to face interviews, online polls, and more. These research methods are ideal for larger sample sizes, and is used to uncover patterns in research using defined variables such as attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and more.