Your research methodology discusses and explains the data collection and analysis methods you used in your research. A key part of your thesis, dissertation, or research paper, the methodology chapter explains what you did and how you did it, allowing readers to evaluate the reliability and validity of your research and your dissertation topic.

It should include:

• The type of research you conducted

• How you collected and analyzed your data

• Any tools or materials you used in the research

• How you mitigated or avoided research biases

• Why you chose these methods

Table of contents 目录

1. How to write a research methodology

2. Why is a methods section important?

3. Step 1: Explain your methodological approach

4. Step 2: Describe your data collection methods

5. Step 3: Describe your analysis method

6. Step 4: Evaluate and justify the methodological choices you made

7. Tips for writing a strong methodology chapter

8. Other interesting articles

9. Frequently asked questions about methodology

Learn how to write a strong methodology chapter that allows readers to evaluate the reliability and validity of the research. A good methodology chapter includes the type of research you did, how you collected and analyzed your data, any tools or materials you used in the research, and your rationale for choosing these methods.

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Why is a methods section important? 为什么方法部分很重要？

Your methods section is your opportunity to share how you conducted your research and why you chose the methods you chose. It’s also the place to show that your research was rigorously conducted and can be replicated.

It gives your research legitimacy and situates it within your field, and also gives your readers a place to refer to if they have any questions or critiques in other sections.

Step 1: Explain your methodological approach 

第 1 步：解释你的方法论

You can start by introducing your overall approach to your research. You have two options here.

Option 1: Start with your “what” 选项 1：从你的“什么”开始

What research problem or question did you investigate?

• Aim to describe the characteristics of something?

• Explore an under-researched topic?

• Establish a causal relationship?

And what type of data did you need to achieve this aim?

• Quantitative data, qualitative data, or a mix of both?

• Primary data collected yourself, or secondary data collected by someone else?

• Experimental data gathered by controlling and manipulating variables, or descriptive data gathered via observations?

Option 2: Start with your “why” 选项 2：从“为什么”开始

Depending on your discipline, you can also start with a discussion of the rationale and assumptions underpinning your methodology. In other words, why did you choose these methods for your study?

• Why is this the best way to answer your research question?

• Is this a standard methodology in your field, or does it require justification?

• Were there any ethical considerations involved in your choices?

• What are the criteria for validity and reliability in this type of research? How did you prevent bias from affecting your data?

Step 2: Describe your data collection methods 

第 2 步：描述您的数据收集方法

Once you have introduced your reader to your methodological approach, you should share full details about your data collection methods.

Quantitative methods 定量方法

In order to be considered generalizable, you should describe quantitative research methods in enough detail for another researcher to replicate your study.

Here, explain how you operationalized your concepts and measured your variables. Discuss your sampling method or inclusion and exclusion criteria, as well as any tools, procedures, and materials you used to gather your data.

 Surveys  调查中
Describe where, when, and how the survey was conducted.

• How did you design the questionnaire?

• What form did your questions take (e.g., multiple choice, Likert scale)?

• Were your surveys conducted in-person or virtually?

• What sampling method did you use to select participants?

• What was your sample size and response rate?

 Experiments 实验
Share full details of the tools, techniques, and procedures you used to conduct your experiment.

• How did you design the experiment?

• How did you recruit participants?

• How did you manipulate and measure the variables?

• What tools did you use?

Existing data  现有数据
Explain how you gathered and selected the material (such as datasets or archival data) that you used in your analysis.

• Where did you source the material?

• How was the data originally produced?

• What criteria did you use to select material (e.g., date range)?

Example: Quantitative 

The survey consisted of 5 multiple-choice questions and 10 questions measured on a 7-point Likert scale.

The goal was to collect survey responses from 350 customers visiting the fitness apparel company’s brick-and-mortar location in Boston on July 4–8, 2022, between 11:00 and 15:00.

Here, a customer was defined as a person who had purchased a product from the company on the day they took the survey. Participants were given 5 minutes to fill in the survey anonymously. In total, 408 customers responded, but not all surveys were fully completed. Due to this, 371 survey results were included in the analysis.

Qualitative methods 定性方法

In qualitative research, methods are often more flexible and subjective. For this reason, it’s crucial to robustly explain the methodology choices you made.

Be sure to discuss the criteria you used to select your data, the context in which your research was conducted, and the role you played in collecting your data (e.g., were you an active participant, or a passive observer?)

 Interviews or focus groups
Describe where, when, and how the interviews were conducted.

• How did you find and select participants?

• How many participants took part?

• What form did the interviews take (structured, semi-structured, or unstructured)?

• How long were the interviews?

• How were they recorded?

 Participant observation
Describe where, when, and how you conducted the observation or ethnography.

• What group or community did you observe? How long did you spend there?

• How did you gain access to this group? What role did you play in the community?

• How long did you spend conducting the research? Where was it located?

• How did you record your data (e.g., audiovisual recordings, note-taking)?

 Existing data
Explain how you selected case study materials for your analysis.

• What type of materials did you analyze?

• How did you select them?

In order to gain better insight into possibilities for future improvement of the fitness store’s product range, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 returning customers.

Here, a returning customer was defined as someone who usually bought products at least twice a week from the store.

Surveys were used to select participants. Interviews were conducted in a small office next to the cash register and lasted approximately 20 minutes each. Answers were recorded by note-taking, and seven interviews were also filmed with consent. One interviewee preferred not to be filmed.

Mixed methods 混合方法

Mixed methods research combines quantitative and qualitative approaches. If a standalone quantitative or qualitative study is insufficient to answer your research question, mixed methods may be a good fit for you.

Mixed methods are less common than standalone analyses, largely because they require a great deal of effort to pull off successfully. If you choose to pursue mixed methods, it’s especially important to robustly justify your methods.

Quantitative and qualitative methods were combined to see if there was a statistically significant relationship between the speed with which the fitness store shelved new releases from popular brands and the likelihood that customers would return. Quantitative research involved running analyses in R on purchase data, while qualitative research focused on the likelihood that interviewed participants mentioned new releases.

Step 3: Describe your analysis method 第 3 步：描述您的分析方法

Next, you should indicate how you processed and analyzed your data. Avoid going into too much detail: you should not start introducing or discussing any of your results at this stage.

Quantitative methods

In quantitative research, your analysis will be based on numbers. In your methods section, you can include:

• How you prepared the data before analyzing it (e.g., checking for missing data, removing outliers, transforming variables)

• Which software you used (e.g., SPSS, Stata or R)

• Which statistical tests you used (e.g., two-tailed t test, simple linear regression)

Before analysis, the gathered data was prepared. The dataset was checked for missing data and outliers. For this, the “outlier labeling rule” was used. 

All values outside the calculated range were considered outliers (Hoaglin & Iglewicz, 1987). The data were then analyzed using a two-way ANOVA with statistical software SPSS.

Qualitative methods

In qualitative research, your analysis will be based on language, images, and observations (often involving some form of textual analysis).

Specific methods might include:

• Content analysis: Categorizing and discussing the meaning of words, phrases and sentences

• Thematic analysis: Coding and closely examining the data to identify broad themes and patterns

• Discourse analysis: Studying communication and meaning in relation to their social context

The interviews were transcribed and thematic analysis was conducted. This involved coding all the data before identifying and reviewing six key themes. Each theme was examined to gain an understanding of participants’ perceptions and motivations.

Mixed methods 混合方法论

Mixed methods combine the above two research methods, integrating both qualitative and quantitative approaches into one coherent analytical process.

Step 4: Evaluate and justify the methodological choices you made 

第 4 步：评估并证明您所做的方法选择的合理性

Above all, your methodology section should clearly make the case for why you chose the methods you did. This is especially true if you did not take the most standard approach to your topic. In this case, discuss why other methods were not suitable for your objectives, and show how this approach contributes new knowledge or understanding.

In any case, it should be overwhelmingly clear to your reader that you set yourself up for success in terms of your methodology’s design. Show how your methods should lead to results that are valid and reliable, while leaving the analysis of the meaning, importance, and relevance of your results for your discussion section.

Remember that your aim is not just to describe your methods, but to show how and why you applied them. Again, it’s critical to demonstrate that your research was rigorously conducted and can be replicated.

1. Focus on your objectives and research questions 

专注于您的目标和研究问题

The methodology section should clearly show why your methods suit your objectives and convince the reader that you chose the best possible approach to answering your problem statement and research questions.

2. Cite relevant sources 引用相关来源

Your methodology can be strengthened by referencing existing research in your field. This can help you to:

• Show that you followed established practice for your type of research

• Discuss how you decided on your approach by evaluating existing research

• Present a novel methodological approach to address a gap in the literature

3. Write for your audience 为你的听众写作

Consider how much information you need to give, and avoid getting too lengthy. If you are using methods that are standard for your discipline, you probably don’t need to give a lot of background or justification.

Regardless, your methodology should be a clear, well-structured text that makes an argument for your approach, not just a list of technical details and procedures.

Other interesting articles 其他有趣的文章

If you want to know more about statistics, methodology, or research bias, make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.