Language Center: Method and Research Design
The article of, Method and Research Design is a guide to help write a research paper, specifically the methods part. It says that the methods have two purposes. 1) It will show how the data was collected and 2) how it was analyzed. It is necessary to know where the data is coming from and how it was collected because the method chosen will affect the results. The author should state why they chose that particular method over another to the reader. Also, when giving the information the researcher should tell the reader what problems that they dealt with and what they expected to happen in their research. It is important to have a detailed methods section.
When writing the methods section it is also important to remember who is reading your paper. It will most likely be people who are very educated in the field and are familiar with the different experiments and research that has already been conducted in their study. So, with this in mind it will save much time when writing the paper because the writer can assume that the reader already knows the basic information.
There are many different forms of research. To name a few are, analysis, case study, comparison, correlation-prediction, evaluation, design-demonstration, survey-questionnaire, status, theory construction, and trend analysis.
When writing your own methods section it is important to keep notes of EVERYTHING that YOU DID! This is very important. It is also important to remember who you are writing for. Use the correct verb tenses and stay in that tense throughout the whole paper. And avoid using the word “I” or “we” in the paper.
How to Write a Method Section
This one was a little different because it was how to write a method section in APA which I think will be helpful to know since my minor is Psychology. So here is the basic example.
The methods section of a APA paper goes in depth and is very detailed information on the research design, participants, equipment, materials, and variables.
The method section in APA should use subheading to divide up the different subsections. The subsection usually is:
- Participants
- Materials
- Design
- Procedure
It is important to write the methods section in the past tense, provide lots of detail so other researches can replicate the experiment but still try to keep it sweet and to the point. It is very important to keep the paper in the proper format (for this case APA). It is very important to proofread the paper and if possible to take it to the university’s writing lab.
Bibliography
Cherry, Kendra. “How to Write a Method Section.” 2010.http://psychology.about.com/od/psychologywriting/ht/method.htm.
“Writing Up Research: Method and Research Design .” http://www.languages.ait.ac.th/el21meth.htm
