How long should methodology be

Often times there are many hypotheses and the methodology will need to be a intricate mixture of approaches as a means to collect the appropriate data. Our thesis and dissertation advisers will allow you to summarize the outcomes of your research and identify important key phrases which will help different researchers locate your thesis or dissertation within electronic databases.

Discuss important facets of every section to provide a succinct summary of what your dissertation contains. You may start to feel your dissertation will not be good enough, and you will need to update it repeatedly. Another thing that you should remember about your dissertation. The simplest way to construct a dissertation is inside-out.

If your dissertation is based on a particular business, you will need to spell out why that business and company was selected. In reality, your dissertation stands or falls by the overall caliber of this methodology chapter. Therefore, how do you handle the methodology component of your dissertation determines the standard of the last work.

It is hard to compose the very best dissertation. NOTE : Once you have written all of the elements of the methods section, subsequent revisions should focus on how to present those elements as clearly and as logically as possibly.

The description of how you prepared to study the research problem, how you gathered the data, and the protocol for analyzing the data should be organized chronologically. For clarity, when a large amount of detail must be presented, information should be presented in sub-sections according to topic.

If necessary, consider using appendices for raw data. ANOTHER NOTE : If you are conducting a qualitative analysis of a research problem , the methodology section generally requires a more elaborate description of the methods used as well as an explanation of the processes applied to gathering and analyzing of data than is generally required for studies using quantitative methods.

Because you are the primary instrument for generating the data [e. Therefore, qualitative research requires a more detailed description of the methods used. This is not a common procedure for most undergraduate level student research assignments. However, i f your professor states you need approval, you must include a statement in your methods section that you received official endorsement and adequate informed consent from the office and that there was a clear assessment and minimization of risks to participants and to the university.

This statement informs the reader that your study was conducted in an ethical and responsible manner. In some cases, the approval notice is included as an appendix to your paper. Problems to Avoid. Irrelevant Detail The methodology section of your paper should be thorough but concise.

Do not provide any background information that does not directly help the reader understand why a particular method was chosen, how the data was gathered or obtained, and how the data was analyzed in relation to the research problem [note: analyzed, not interpreted! Save how you interpreted the findings for the discussion section]. With this in mind, the page length of your methods section will generally be less than any other section of your paper except the conclusion.

Unnecessary Explanation of Basic Procedures Remember that you are not writing a how-to guide about a particular method. You should make the assumption that readers possess a basic understanding of how to investigate the research problem on their own and, therefore, you do not have to go into great detail about specific methodological procedures.

The focus should be on how you applied a method , not on the mechanics of doing a method. An exception to this rule is if you select an unconventional methodological approach; if this is the case, be sure to explain why this approach was chosen and how it enhances the overall process of discovery. Problem Blindness It is almost a given that you will encounter problems when collecting or generating your data, or, gaps will exist in existing data or archival materials. Do not ignore these problems or pretend they did not occur.

Often, documenting how you overcame obstacles can form an interesting part of the methodology. It demonstrates to the reader that you can provide a cogent rationale for the decisions you made to minimize the impact of any problems that arose.

Literature Review Just as the literature review section of your paper provides an overview of sources you have examined while researching a particular topic, the methodology section should cite any sources that informed your choice and application of a particular method [i.

A description of a research study's method should not be confused with a description of the sources of information. Such a list of sources is useful in and of itself, especially if it is accompanied by an explanation about the selection and use of the sources. The description of the project's methodology complements a list of sources in that it sets forth the organization and interpretation of information emanating from those sources.

Azevedo, L. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers , pp. Structuring Your Research Thesis. Methods Section. Writing Center. Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications, , pp. Purdue University; Methods and Materials. Department of Biology. Bates College. Statistical Designs and Tests? Do Not Fear Them! Don't avoid using a quantitative approach to analyzing your research problem just because you fear the idea of applying statistical designs and tests.

A qualitative approach, such as conducting interviews or content analysis of archival texts, can yield exciting new insights about a research problem, but it should not be undertaken simply because you have a disdain for running a simple regression.

A well designed quantitative research study can often be accomplished in very clear and direct ways, whereas, a similar study of a qualitative nature usually requires considerable time to analyze large volumes of data and a tremendous burden to create new paths for analysis where previously no path associated with your research problem had existed.

Knowing the Relationship Between Theories and Methods. There can be multiple meaning associated with the term "theories" and the term "methods" in social sciences research. A helpful way to delineate between them is to understand "theories" as representing different ways of characterizing the social world when you research it and "methods" as representing different ways of generating and analyzing data about that social world.

Framed in this way, all empirical social sciences research involves theories and methods, whether they are stated explicitly or not. In a longer or more complex research project, such as a thesis or dissertation , you will probably include a methodology section , where you explain your approach to answering the research questions and cite relevant sources to support your choice of methods.

In a scientific paper, the methodology always comes after the introduction and before the results , discussion and conclusion. The same basic structure also applies to a thesis, dissertation , or research proposal. Depending on the length and type of document, you might also include a literature review or theoretical framework before the methodology. Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings.

Quantitative methods allow you to systematically measure variables and test hypotheses. Qualitative methods allow you to explore concepts and experiences in more detail. Reliability and validity are both about how well a method measures something:.

If you are doing experimental research, you also have to consider the internal and external validity of your experiment. A sample is a subset of individuals from a larger population. Sampling means selecting the group that you will actually collect data from in your research. For example, if you are researching the opinions of students in your university, you could survey a sample of students. In statistics, sampling allows you to test a hypothesis about the characteristics of a population.

Have a language expert improve your writing. Check your paper for plagiarism in 10 minutes. Do the check. Generate your APA citations for free! APA Citation Generator. Home Knowledge Base Dissertation How to write a research methodology. It should include: The type of research you did How you collected 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.

What is your plagiarism score? Compare your paper with over 60 billion web pages and 30 million publications. Where does the methodology section go in a research paper? Reliability and validity are both about how well a method measures something: Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure whether the results can be reproduced under the same conditions. Validity refers to the accuracy of a measure whether the results really do represent what they are supposed to measure.

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