You want to write a research methodology chapter, but do not know how to start, so here is the complete guide to writing a research methodology chapter for final year and postgraduate students. The research methodology chapter is also known as Chapter 3. Writing chapter 3 is like you are being thrown into a maze, and you do not know how to escape from it. Every supervisor has different expectations from the students, and this is where the real challenge begins for the students, because this is the chapter where you have to defend your words you say.

But this will be a piece of cake for you once you understand the key components of writing research methodology. The components like research philosophy, methods for writing research, data analysis and collection, and how to justify the choices you made. Once we know how to write chapter 3 while keeping in mind these components, the writing part will become enjoyable instead of just being easy to accomplish. This complete guide will be helpful for the students to write Chapter 3 easily while enjoying it by making their thesis solid.

WHAT IS CHAPTER 3 OR RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CHAPTER

The research methodology is where we explain how your study is conducted, what methods we used and why we used those particular methods we used for our research. In this chapter, we write about how we collected the data and analysed it to answer the specific research question and what method was used and why we chose that method for our research. A strong methodology will show

The academic credibility
Explain how we will collect data and analyse it
Why is our research design appropriate?

This chapter is not for unclear descriptions and guesses; it requires clarity and reasoning that defend your work.

RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY

As we are talking about philosophy, so yes, it is as same as the name suggests, PHILOSOPHY, which is the study of knowledge. So this part of the research methodology is important because it helps to understand the topic deeply. The research philosophy is the most important part of the research methodology. This is the component that will help you shape the topic you want to interpret. There are many philosophies, but the most commonly used are the following:

POSITIVISM

This research philosophy believes that knowledge comes from observation. There are different objectives of this philosophy

Reality exists whether we observe it or not, so it is objective.
Knowledge must be based on facts, which means it should be based on observation and measurement.
Scientific methods are used.
Personal opinions are avoided.
It is normally combined with quantitative methods.

INTERPRETIVISM

This research philosophy emphasises the understanding of the meaning behind the experiences of humans. This says that reality is socially constructed. The following are some objectives of this philosophy

This says that reality is subjective because reality is not fixed.
The main focus is on meaning.
It is used in qualitative research.
It is used to understand the meaning behind experiences, contexts, and behaviours.

PRAGMATISM

In this type of research philosophy, the main focus is on problem-solving and sensibility. This helps the students to use whatever method is fitting for their research due to which is also called mixed method research. It often guides to use of both qualitative and quantitative methods so the researchers can answer their research question easily according to whatever method is appropriate for their topic. The following are some objectives of it:

This focuses on the problem and the practical solution for the problem.
Researchers can use any method which they can provide a practical solution to the problem.

CONSTRUCTIVISM

This research philosophy says that reality is subjective because it is created due to an individual’s experiences, contexts, and interactions. So for that, the researchers use qualitative method for their research. The following are some objectives of this philosophy:

Reality is subjective rather than objective.
Knowledge is something that is built through social interaction.
The researcher should play an active role.
The researcher should try to understand from the participant’s point of view because the focus is on subjectivity.

HOW TO SKETCH RESEARCH DESIGNS AND RESEARCH METHODS?

Many people think that research methods and research designs are the same thing, but no, they are different. Research designs focus on “how the research will be ordered?” while research methods focus on “how the data for the research will be collected and then analysed?”

RESEARCH DESIGNS

In research design, we overall plan and structure how we will do our research project. This helps us to organise our data. If you have a good and solid research design, it will keep your research organised and keep you focused by making your work easy. Without a proper design, your research will be unorganised and messy, so make sure to have a proper design for your research project.

TYPES OF DESIGNS

There are different types of research designs which you can choose according to your project.

Experimental design
Descriptive design
Co-relational design
Qualitative design
Case study design

RESEARCH METHOD

Research methods are the tools that will help you collect and analyse the data. We can say that research designs are our dreams, while research methods are actions to make the dreams come true. Research method is also a very crucial part of our research project because it makes you understand your topic better and also helps you collect data that is accurate.

TYPES OF RESEARCH METHODS

The following are some different types of research methods

Qualitative method
Quantitative method
Mixed method

Both the research method and the research design in your research project will make your work more reliable.

ADVOCATING YOUR METHODOLOGY

The next very important step in your research project is to justify your research methodology. You will not be asked “what” you did, but you will be asked “why” you used it and why you thought it would be a good choice for your project. So the main part of Chapter 3 is to justify your methodology. Now we will briefly discuss the steps through which we can advocate our methodology.

STEPS TO JUSTIFY

Start by advocating your research philosophy by telling which philosophy you used and why you thought that this philosophy is appropriate for your project. Then support your research design. After that, write about the technique you chose for sampling. Justify about data collection method, how you collected data, and analysed it. Conclude the paragraph by telling how your analysis is providing the solution to the problem or answering the question of your research project. But while writing must keep in mind that each statement you said should be defendable.

DESCRIBE THE FOLLOWING: POPULATION, SAMPLE, SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

In this section, you need to describe who your participants are for your research work and how you will select those participants. In population, your focus will be on the group of people you are interested in studying. In the sample, you will basically tell about the number of people. It means that you will write about the division of the population that you will actually include in your research work. Let me give you an example to make the point clear for sampling, that this is the subset of population I am including in my work, e.g. 50 teachers from 15 schools. Now talking about the sampling technique, there are two types of sampling techniques, Probability sampling and Non-probability sampling. In the sampling technique, you will select a particular technique and then give the reason why you chose the specific method.

METHODS FOR THE COLLECTION OF DATA

This is where your research will become real when you will describe that how you collected data and what instruments you used for your data collection. Questionnaires, interviews etc comes under the data collection instrument.

PLAN FOR DATA ANALYSIS

For this step, you plan to transform your raw and messy data into organised and meaningful findings. But for this step, you need to keep in mind which research method you used, like the qualitative method or the quantitative method.

RESTRICTION OF THE METHODOLOGY

Every methodology has several restrictions or limitations. The limitations should be identified so the reader can understand the results easily. So, we will just overlook the different limitations of the methodology.

Sample size, which means that the results should not be based on a wider population.
Self-reported data means that the participants may provide inaccurate data, so try to avoid it.
Lack of control: This will make your claim weaker.

There are also ethical limitations in which the researcher should keep the data of the participant confidential, and also the restriction on the involvement of the sensitive population. The data of the participant should be secured. The participant should be informed that his information will be used in your research work. In short, the data of the participant should be used with their consent.

CONCLUSION

No doubt that writing a research methodology is really tough work and you need to invest a lot of your time and energy for a proper and solid methodology, but by using a proper technique, method, design and especially by actually understanding the research methodology the time and efforts you are putting in your work will be worth it! Just focus on avoiding vague statements; the tense you will use in your work should be the past tense. Stick to the point by supporting or aligning every statement to your research question. A proper research methodology is the main part of your research project, and you can make your research work unyielding. So now you can write an impressive research methodology easily by focusing on the components, which are research philosophies, designs, methods, and restrictions. Best of luck with your future research work!

Written by: ANSA ISHTIAQ