What Is A Methods Section?

For when you need a method to your madness.

The Research Question

Research is a process.

It starts with being interested in a topic, reading published research on that topic, having unanswered questions related to that topic, developing a research question to answer those questions, designing a research study, conducting the study, still having questions, designing another research question, and so on into infinity.

A research question is the main question that you want your research study to answer.

Unlike a thesis statement, which makes a claim, a research question suggests uncertainty. Like a thesis statement, a research question should be clear and specific.

Also like a thesis statement, a research question should be revised.

You might start off by asking, "How are social networking sites harmful?" and realize that your question is not specific enough. Which sites, how might they be harmful, and whom might they harm?

Your revised research question might read, "How are online users experiencing or addressing privacy issues on such social networking sites as Facebook and Twitter?"

Once you have a question, you can design a research study to answer it.

Methods

Much like snowflakes, no two research studies are alike. Studies have different methods, and you choose your method based on the kind of question you’re trying to answer.

Do you want to find out about trends or the measurable effects of something?

For example, you want to know how many independently owned hair salons close due to financial failure within five years of opening.

Use quantitative methods!

Do you want to record people’s accounts, in their own words, of their lived experiences and/or personal opinions?

For example, you want to know what a group of mobile users think of Nike’s new digital marketing campaign.

Use qualitative methods!

Do you want to know about general trends but also record people’s opinions?

For example, you want to know how many mobile users are aged 18-24 and what do a group of mobile users aged 18-24 think of Nike’s new digital marketing campaign.

Use both quantitative and qualitative methods! That’s called mixed methods.

If you're not clear on the difference between or definitions of quantitative or qualitative, you can find a super easy to understand explanation (with pictures!) here.

Quantitative: True Experiments

As the name suggests, true experiments are the most science-y of all the experiments. A true experiment could very well entail a lab full of people dressed in lab coats and holding beakers.

But it could also entail so much more than that.

While true experiments are most common in the physical sciences, such as physics, chemistry, or geology, they are also used in the social, behavioral, natural, and health sciences.

True experiments start with a hypothesis.

The researchers then employ sampling techniques to randomly select participants and randomly assign them to a control group and an experimental group. One variable is manipulated and tested, and the experimental group will be exposed to that variable.

For example, if you want to see whether a new drug (your variable) alleviates the symptoms of the common cold, you will give the drug to participants with colds in your experimental group, but not give anything to the participants with colds in your control group. Then you'll measure how sick they feel afterward.

True experiments seek to measure cause, effect, and/or correlation. Cause, effect, and correlation are determined through statistical analysis.

Even the most true of experiments still have downsides, though.

True experiments have been critiqued for being “too perfect.” After all, controlling everything can’t give you an idea of what will happen in the real world. Plus, quite frankly, true experiments can be difficult and expensive to carry out.

Nevertheless, it is considered by some to be the most accurate form of research.

Quantitative: Quasi-experiments

A quasi-experiment is the same as true experiment, but with up to two differences: 1) the participants are not selected or assigned to groups via randomization and/or 2) there is no control group.

If a study includes randomization, then the people who participate in the study will be selected randomly or they will be assigned to control and experimental groups randomly.

For example, if you want to conduct a study to find out whether people with a certain eye color perform better on written exams, you can't go out and find random people and then assign them to groups randomly. You have to specifically look for people with brown eyes, hazel eyes, blue eyes, green eyes, etc. and then put them in groups based on eye color.

You will probably find that eye color as a cause doesn't have an effect on test scores, but at least you'll have found that out by using research.

Qualitative: Case Studies

In a case study, a researcher studies a case limited to a particular place, group, activity, and/or person (e.g., one hospital ward at a hospital in Crystal Lake, one classroom NIU, one woman with inclusion body myositis) and collects data over a set period of time.

The researcher then reports his or her observations about individuals’ experiences and behaviors.

You can find several examples of case studies written by students, on such topics as one man's erectile dysfunction and several women's reactions to fashion magazines, here.

Case studies and ethnographic studies (described below) are two of the most popular research methods in the social sciences.

Qualitative: Ethnographies

An ethnography is similar to a case study, but is more focused on cultures than cases (e.g., the culture of freshman students in Engl 203 courses, the culture of German electro-industrial techno fans, the culture of adult My Little Pony fans).

An ethnographer's goal is to describe the group in as much detail as possible, without making any judgments about them.

The ethnographer also gets involved; he or she does not try to be passive and objective like some other researchers. An ethnographer might have to put on that full body Rainbow Dash costume to fully understand brony culture.

Because ethnographies are focused on social relationships and human action, statistics and quantitative methods take a backseat.

You can find plenty examples of student ethnographies here, reporting on such diverse cultures as a group of stoners working at a pizza place, a fitness center at a university, and minimum-wage employees at a McDonald's.

Qualitative: Phenomenological Studies

Phenomenological (feh-nom-eh-nuh-logical) studies record the stories of participants in order to better understand a group.

The researcher focuses on the participants’ perspectives and lived experiences. Essentially, their stories.

For example, if you look at this phenomenological study of people with dementia, you'll see that most of it is descriptions of and quotes the participants with dementia.

Data Collection Procedures

Along with developing a research question and choosing your research methods, you'll need to figure out how you're going to gather information.

The most common types of data collection are surveys and interviews, focus groups, and observation.

Procedures: Surveys and interviews

Surveys and interviews can be used in both quantitative and qualitative research.

A survey or interview is quantitative if the data can be measured, put into numbers, and if the goal of the survey is to find out about general trends.

A survey or interview is qualitative if the information gathered includes people's opinions or stories about their lives and experiences.

Surveys can take the form of questionnaires (like the ones you can make for free using Survey Monkey), and interviews can be held in-person, over-the-phone, via email, etc.

Surveys and interviews can also be cross-sectional (in which the researcher surveys or interviews a group or groups just once) or longitudinal (in which the researcher surveys or interviews a group or groups repeatedly over a period of time).

Procedures: Focus Groups

To conduct a focus group, a researcher has to get a small number of people (usually 6-12) together in a room to share their perspectives on specific topics. A facilitator will introduce the topics.

Focus groups are frequently used business, particularly market research. They are, however, used in other fields as well.

The CDC, for example, held a focus group to evaluate an asthma prevention program, in which middle school students who were part of the program talked about how they were dealing with their asthma and how asthma affected their schoolwork.

Focus groups are predominantly used to generate qualitative research.

Procedures: Observation

In research, observation means watching a person or group of people and recording their behavior, what takes place, and/or what the wholes scene looks like.

The researcher can record his or her observations via note taking, audio recording, or video recording.

Observation can be overt, meaning the participants know that they are being observed and may know why they are being observed, or covert, meaning that the participants don't know they're being observed.

You can learn more about conducting observations for research here.

Observation is used in both quantitative and qualitative research.

Putting It All Together: The Methods Section

In your final research paper, you will include a methods section.

A methods section should:

* State whether you're using a quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods approach

* Explain why you chose that approach

* Describe your methods (true experiment, quasi-experiment, case study, ethnography, or phenomenological study)

* Describe your data collection procedures (survey, interview, focus group, and/or observation)

* Describe your participants

Feel free to take a look at the example methods section on Blackboard (Blackboard > Readings > Example Methods Sections) to get ideas on how to write one yourself!