18 Writing the methodology chapter

General

The title of this chapter can vary, such as Procedure(s) or Experiments or Materials and Methods, depending on the discipline, the project or subject of the study. The location of this chapter within a paper can vary. In a simple thesis it typically precedes the Results chapter. In a project report there might not be a separate chapter with the title ‘Methodology”, but this might be part of the description of the project tasks or research design.

Methodology vs methods: It is important to understand the difference between these two. The methodology refers to the theoretical framework and explains why certain research methods have been chosen. This can involve assumptions on why the chosen methods are expected to be successful. Methods describe the actual research instruments and materials used, such as interviews or specific measurements, to collect and analyse data.

Purpose of the methodology section

Overall, the purpose of this section is to provide the reader with information on the methods used to answer the research question (s), to achieve the objectives of the projects. Another important aspect is the justification for each method, which means why they were used, and also how. This involves a restatement of the research aim/ objectives and explains to the reader how the chosen research method (s) help answer the research questions. At this stage ethical issues or limitations of the research can also be stated.

In  other studies, the primary goal of this section is to convey to the reader the validity of the research which has been undertaken. The reader must be able to replicate the experiment and obtain essentially the same result.

Writing up the methods

In social science readers are often not only interested in the findings but in the methods you used to obtain them such as how you chose your sample, how representative it is, the questions posed in the survey or asked in the interview. The method section then becomes a detailed account of the steps undertaken in your research. Methods sections of projects using a non-experimental approach most likely have the three components of description, explanation and justification of data and method.

Therefore, the methods section fulfills three purposes (Lea, 2014):

1. Describe the data and method(s) used
2. Explain how the data were collected and how the method (s) were employed in the research
3. Justify why the data were collected and why particular methods were chosen.

Overall structure

The overall structure follows the general-to-specific pattern, and also the logical organization of your project.

Experimental method

If experiments are used as a method, procedures followed and how results were calculated have to be presented. A typical structure:

1. Apparatus: briefly describe the equipment, hardware used. Be as precise as possible: full details, including photographs, drawings or sketches should be placed in the appendix.
2. Materials: list the materials used- be specific.
3. Procedure: present a chronological account of how the experiment was conducted.

Language focus

Use of sub-headings

This section often has subheadings which should, whenever possible, match those to be used in the results section.

Describing sequence

Sequence, or order, is important in describing processes. The table below shows some common expressions.

You may also want to explain:

For useful phrases and meta-language to lead the reader through your methodology section go to the Academic phrasebank, Describing Methods.