How to organize the Methodology Chapter section Lynn

How to organize the Methodology Chapter (section) Lynn W Zimmerman, Ph. D

What is the methodology chapter? • Why has the research study been undertaken? • How has the research problem been defined? • In what way and why has the hypothesis been formulated? • How were data collected? What data have been collected? • What particular method has been adopted? • Why the particular technique of analyzing data has been used?

Data collection method • Primary data can be collected through an experiment, through surveys, or through qualitative methods. • Experiment • Observes some quantitative measurements, or the data, with the help of which he examines the hypothesis. • Survey or qualitative methods – – by observation through personal interviews through telephone interviews by questionnaires

Analysis of Collected Data • An extremely important step • Qualitative – Patterns – Intertextual – Interpretative • Quantitative – Different statistical methods are used to make a proper inference

Overview of Typical Components • Methodology – Research questions/hypotheses – Theoretical framework – Approach – Justification • Materials – – Field equipment Surveys, questionnaires Human subjects Tape recorder • Methods – – – Data collection Population sample Procedures Variables Statistical treatment Coding

Methods Section • • • three pages or less brief introductory paragraph giving details about the participants paragraph giving details about the materials paragraph about the procedure

Introductory Paragraph – What kind of small research project you did – How many people participated in your project and whether they were teachers and/or students – What you plan to do with the information from your project (basically, just say you will analyze it in order to show the situation here in Albania)

Paragraph: Participants • If students – What level? – How old? – How many boys and girls? • If teachers – What subject? – What level – For how long has each been teaching? • What kind of school (general or specialized)? • Why did you decide to include these particular people in your study?

Paragraph: Materials • How did you record the responses of your participants? – Did they write their answers on a paper? – Did you take notes? – Did you audio or video record them? – Did you use the internet to email a questionnaire? – If a questionnaire, what kinds of questions were on it?

Paragraph: Procedure • Describe the exact steps you took to get the information. – Did you write the questions yourself? – Did you take them from a source? – Did you give it to people in person? – Did someone else help you? – Did you stay with them while they wrote the answers? Did you collect them later? • Describe everything you did with enough detail that someone else could follow your same steps if they wanted to.

Avoid • Methods section – does not contain the results of the study. – is not the place to explain classroom teaching methods. – does not contain first person, if at all possible