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How do you develop a research methodology?
- Restate your research problem. Begin your research methodology section by listing the problems or questions you intend to study. Include your hypotheses, if applicable, or what you are setting out to prove through your research.
- Establish your overall methodological approach. Your overall approach will be either qualitative or quantitative. Occasionally, you may also use a mix of both approaches. Briefly explain why you chose your approach.
- Define how you collected or generated data. This portion of your methodology section tells your readers when and where you conducted your research, and what basic parameters were put into place to ensure the relative objectivity of your results.
- Provide background for uncommon methods. Particularly in the social sciences, you may be using methods that aren't typically used, or that don't seem to fit with your research problem.
- Cite any sources that contributed to your choice of methodology. If you used anyone else's work to help you craft or apply your methodology, discuss those works and how they contributed to your own work, or how your work is building on theirs.
- Explain your selection criteria for data collection. If you're collecting primary data, you likely set eligibility parameters.
- Distinguish your research from any weaknesses in your methods. Every research method has strengths and weaknesses.
- Describe how you overcame obstacles. Overcoming obstacles in your research can be one of the most important parts of your methodology.
- Evaluate other methods you could have used. Particularly if you're using a method that seems unusual for your particular subject matter, include a discussion of other methods that are more typically used for your type of research.
- Describe how you analyzed your results. Your analysis generally depends on whether your approach is qualitative, quantitative, or a mixture of the two.
- Explain how your analysis suits your research goals.
- Identify how your analysis answers your research questions. Relate your methodology back to your original research questions and present a proposed outcome based on your analysis.
- Assess whether your findings can be transferred or generalized. You may be able to transfer your findings to other contexts, or generalize them to broader populations