You would like to know how to write a methodology section effectively?
In this article, you’ll discover how to do so, regardless whether you are working on a paper, a thesis, or a dissertation.
When I mean methodology section, I’m referring to the section that you position after the literature review and before presenting your results.
This means that this tutorial is for you if you are working with empirical data or a systematic approach to analysing literature.
We will cover everything from quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches in this article.
The difference between methodology and method
A very common rookie mistake is to confuse the concepts methodolgy and method.
Don’t do that.
A methodology describes an overarching research strategy, which can involve multiple methods. An empirical method is a single procedure that can help you to collect or analyse data.
An example for a methodology would be case study research. And under the umbrella of this methodology, you can apply qualitative methods, for example.
Writing your Methodology Section
In this very important section, you outline your research design, which means the complete process you apply in this particular study to gain new knowledge and answer your research question or questions.
You need to demonstrate how well-thought-out your research design is and how neatly you’ve aligned your data collection and analysis methods.
For every empirical research project, this is one of the most important criteria for anyone who reviews your work.
A good thing is that the fundamental principles for writing a methodology section remain the same. This means that you can learn a formular that you can follow again and again.
After internalizing the three fundamental principles that I am about to show you, I strongly recommend delving into two, three, or even four papers that follow a similar methodological approach.
You’ll quickly recognize these fundamental principles and can apply them to your own work.
#1 Start with the research paradigm or a framework
To start your methodology section, you should state the paradigm you are following (i.e., quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, review, design science, action research, etc.).
You then name a specific framework or an author that provided guidelines that you follow for your data collection and analysis.
After many decades of empirical research in various disciplines, some works and authors have emerged who have developed a sort of scientific consensus.
So, you don’t need to do anything other than follow their guidance.
Research the most cited methodological frameworks in your discipline and compare which one is best suited for your study.
For example:
- “Case Study Research – Design & Methods” by Robert Yin is a standard reference for conducting case studies.
However, if you are planning a more interpretative case study, another framework is probably more suitable, as Yin’s approach is best suited for quantitative research within the case study paradigm.
Once you have chosen a framework, follow the suggested approach as consistently as possible, and be sure to cite it in your methodology section.
The steps outlined in your chosen framework will now determine how you structure the rest of your methodology section.
To do this, you simply describe the steps in chronological order.
#2 Stay True to the Process
After you clarified what your overall approach is, you begin to describe each method. You should structure this part in a way that explains your workflow step by step, in chronological order.
You typically begin with the data collection method.
For example, for a quantitative online survey:
- How was the questionnaire developed?
- How was the survey created (technically)?
- Was there a pretest? How was it conducted, and what were the results?
- How were participants recruited?
- How was the composition and size of the sample determined?
- What analyses (statistical tests) were calculated and using what software?
- Are there reliability measures you can report?
Example for qualitative interviews:
- What is a good description of your case? (only for case studies)
- How was the interview guide developed?
- How were the interviewees recruited?
- How was the composition and size of the final sample? Why did you make these choices?
You then continue with the analysis method.
- What analyses (e.g., content analysis) were conducted and using what software?
- What coding scheme did your analysis follow?
- Are there reliability measures you can report?
You can divide things like case description, data collection, and analysis in different sub-sections to structure your methodology section. It is important to use very standardized headings like “data collection”.
Nothing fancy here.
Additionally, you should not reveal any results at this point.
The methodology section only describes your research design so that it could be replicated by anyone.
Transparency is crucial, and even unexpected incidents such as a failed pretest or a revised codebook are not a problem.
They contribute to adding depth to your approach and show that you have followed good scientific practices.
Secret Tip: Create a Figure
Before we dive into the third and final fundamental principle, let’s explore a secret tip: illustrating your research design.
This means that you visually represent your research design that is both clear and engaging.
Build on the framework you referred to in the beginning, but apply it specifically to the combination of methods that you have chosen.
For example:
In this study, a qualitative content analysis of Twitter posts was conducted. Following the figure, the individual steps 1-4 would then be described in chronological order in the text.
The figure just makes it more appealing and allows the reader to see the whole process at a glance.
#3 Connect Each Step with a Justification
Even if you follow a framework meticulously, you may sometimes encounter unplanned changes, dilemmas, or too many options. In such cases, you need to make tough decisions.
The methodology section is not only a description of your research design but also a continuous justification of your choices.
As you learned before, you should explain each step sequentially and ideally refer to a scientifically recognized framework.
Now, in the final step, ensure that you logically link the individual steps with justifications. You can roughly remember it like this:
For each step you describe, write another sentence explaining why this step was the best and most logical choice. To practice this, you can review your logical chain at the end. You can also back up your justifications with literature.
Here’s an example:
“We chose a multi-case design as it allows the development of more robust insights by identifying key practices of organisations that go beyond the idiosyncrasies of individual cases (Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007)”.
Why a Case Study?
“Due to the fact that Augmented Reality has only been sparsely adopted in the crafts industry (reference here), and Company XY has been actively promoting the use of AR glasses in production for two years, participating in the pilot project ABC, which was the first to implement DEF in practice in Germany, a case study of this company is suitable to investigate (content of the research question).”
Why Qualitative Interviews?
“The identified needs for theory-building in relation to this topic in the literature, combined with the novelty of the technology in the context of the crafts industry, necessitate the creation of a qualitative data foundation to identify requirements, motivations, and barriers.”
Why A content analysis?
And so on…
I think you get the idea.
As you can see, the methodology section consists of a sequence of steps and their justifications.
The quality of this chapter will be largely judged based on how well you are able to justify your decisions.
One Last Note
Sometimes, you may have to make a decision where you’re not sure which direction to go.
That’s perfectly fine.
And sometimes, there’s no right or wrong; there’s only well-justified and poorly-justified.
The key is to make a decision and then describe, in a comprehensible manner, why that decision makes sense both methodologically and conceptually.
If you can do that, there’s nothing standing in the way of a high score for this section in the evaluation of your research project.