Researcher should understand the difference between research method and research methodology. Research methodology explains more about the research process whereas research methods aim at finding answers to research questions. All of the methods, approaches, processes and techniques used by researcher during research process can be referred as research methods. It can be methods applied during dataset creation, data preprocessing, and data collection to decide sufficiency of data. Researcher has to use different analytical tools and techniques at the time of statistical analysis and to check accuracy of obtained results. Examples of methods applied during dataset creation are survey methods, interview method, questionnaires, thorough observations, and input through mechanical/electrical devices. Some of the examples of statistical analysis methods are mean, mode, median, mean deviation, standard deviation, skewness, kurtosis, and histogram. Methods such as finding precision, recall, f-score, and t-test are used in result analysis.

Researchers should be able to identify appropriate relevant methods applicable at each step. For researchers, along with an understanding of different research methods, design of methodology for his/her research problem is very important and it may differ from problem to problem. Consider the example of building a house; first, the architect will design a plan for your house according to your requirements. In his/her plan he fulfils each and every requirement and comes up with final solutions including positions of different rooms, windows, doors, staircases, and so on. The quality and quantity of each and every material is decided before constructing actual house. Estimation of building house is prepared before starting actual work. Then contractor decides how the construction should be completed, which tools and methods should be used at every stage of progress and plan is executed accordingly. First, complete plan of process of construction is prepared and then executed using tools and techniques. Similarly, in research researcher is expected to prepare plan of research from problem definition, that is, methodology for research process. At the time of deciding on a specific methodology, researchers should look at different available methods, analyse them and should choose the appropriate one for his/her research. In short, different research methods are part of research methodology