In the article, Method and Research Design, it was very helpful in giving you advice on how to construct your paper through method and design.
Purpose in the method section addresses two specific questions:
- How was the data collected or generated?
- How was it analyzed?
Answering these questions show the reader how you got your results. This is very helpful because we have to perform either qualitative or quantitative research so this is starting to prepare us for this step. At the bottom of this section it has many helpful tips while writing this.
Common Problems
- Irrelevant Detail- Explains that those who are reading the paper are of similar education, so you may not have to go into detail about certain facts or procedures.
- Unnecessary explanation of basic procedures-Explains that those who are reading the paper are of similar education, so you may not have to go into detail about certain facts or procedures.
- Problem Blindness- Do not ignore certain problems that you may find. Although you may not want to use them, they are still relevant.
Overview
- Introduction-introduction of research problem introduction of objectives introduction of how objectives will be achieved
- Literature Review-review of previous work relating to research problem (to define, explain, justify) review of previous work relating to methodology (to define, explain, justify) review of previous work relating to results (particularly reliability, etc.)
- Method-explanation of how data was collected/generated · explanation of how data was analyzed explanation of methodological problems and their solutions or effects
- Results and Disscussion-presentation of results interpretation of results discussion of results
- Conclusions-has the research problem been “solved”? to what extent have the objectives been achieved? what has been learnt from the results? how can this knowledge be used? what are the shortcomings of the research, or the research methodology? etc.
Examples of Different Types of Research
- Analysis-classes of data are collected and studies conducted to discern patterns and formulate principles that might guide future action
- Case Study-the background, development, current conditions and environmental interactions of one or more individuals, groups, communities, businesses or institutions is observed, recorded and analyzed for stages of patterns in relation to internal and external influences.
- Comparison- two or more existing situations are studied to determine their similarities and differences.
- Correlation-Prediction-statistically significant correlation coefficients between and among a number of factors are sought and interpreted.
- Evaluation-research to determine whether a program or project followed the prescribed procedures and achieved the stated outcomes.
- Design-Demonstration-new systems or programs are constructed, tested and evaluated
- Survey-Questionnaire-behaviors, beliefs and observations of specific groups are identified, reported and interpreted.
- Status-representative or selected sample of one or more phenomena is examined to determine its special characteristics.
- Theory Construction-an attempt to find or describe principles that explain how things work the way they do.
- Trend Analysis-predicting or forecasting the future direction of events
Method Section: An Example- Gives a great example of a Method Section
Writing Your Own Method Section- Gives some helpful tips on how to write your own Method Section.
http://psychology.about.com/b/2006/11/13/how-to-write-a-method-section.htm
Although this site is for writing a method section in a psychology paper, the basic idea is still here. Basically it says to provide detailed information about the research design, participants, equipment, materials, variables, and actions taken by the participants. You should provide enough information, so that someone could perform your research methods on their own just by reading your paper.
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