Common mistakes to avoid while writing a Ph.D. Methodology

Research methodology is a term or technique used to identify, select, process, and evaluate information about any topic. Basically, the methodology section is added to any research paper because this section will tell the reader about the methods that you have used in your research paper are valid or not.  

Basically, the main purpose of the methodology section is to define how you have collected the data and how it was analyzed.

Methods vs methodology

• The methodology is a way to determine the appropriateness of the methods while the method is to find the solution to the research problem.
• Methods are just tools used to select the research technique while methodology is the analysis of the methods that have been used in the entire paper.
• The purpose of research methodology is to prove credibility, validity, and reliability while the purpose of the method is to find the solution to the research problem.

What are the research methods?

The research method is a technique that is basically used in the collection of data. Basically, there are two types of research methods that are being used for the different types of data collection. These are:

Qualitative research

• It involves the collection and analyzing the data of non-numerical data.
• This method can be used for different subjects such as sociology, education, history, etc.
• Tools for qualitative research could be interviews, focus groups, surveys, etc.

Quantitative research.

• A method that is being used to collect and analyze the numerical data (Mukul, Gupta 2011).
• Tools for quantitative research could be surveys, questionnaires, pre-existing statistical data.

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Steps to write research methodology

Whether you are writing a thesis or dissertation, you must have to include the methodology section in which you need to describe all the methods that you are going to use in your entire research. It is very a very important section.

Writing a methodology is a very challenging task whether it is being written for a thesis or dissertation. This is the reason, most of the students even try to buy dissertation methodology when writing it for a dissertation. So, here are some steps through which every student can easily draw the methodology section.

Explain the methods

Your methodological section must be started by introducing all the methods that are going to use in your research. It can be quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods. It is considered as the heart of a methodology (MEW, 2022).

Make a methodological connection

First, you have to make sure that the connection between your methods and the research problem is relevant otherwise you won’t be able to produce the expected objective with your methodological approach.

Introduce your instruments

Instruments refer to the sources that are going to be used in the entire research such as surveys, interviews, etc, and explain how you are going to use them. You must have to explain how your research is different from previous researchers and how your research is going to be beneficial in the future.

Describe the methods of analysis

In this section, you have to explain how you processed and analyzed the data. You can also use statistical analysis or theoretical perspective, it depends upon your methods.

Provide background information

Background information means you have to add some basic information about your methods because there is a possibility your reader might get stuck in reading your methods then this background information can help him/her to understand it clearly.

Explain the reason to choose a specific methodological approach

In this section, you have to justify why you have chosen particular methods and explain why other methods are not beneficial for you. Also, explain how your chosen methods are different from the existing methods.

Common mistakes to avoid while writing a methodology

Here are some common mistakes that should be avoided while writing a research methodology.

Not explaining the methods

This is the most common mistake that almost every student makes while writing a methodology section in which they don’t explain the methods that they are using to collect and analyze the data. Although, this is the most important part in the methodological section to explain the methods to collect and analyze the data.

Wrong choices of tenses 

Tenses matter a lot even in every task especially in these long tasks because these tenses will help your reader to understand everything easily. Therefore, when writing a methodology chapter, use the future tense to the work that will be done but if you have already completed your project research, use the past tense, it will help the reader to understand that work is already been done.

Not providing background information

As discussed above, providing background information means providing some easiness to the reader while understanding the entire section. Sometimes, readers could be unfamiliar with the methods that have been used to collect and analyze the data. Therefore, background information will provide them with some additional information to understand it clearly.

Using active voice

While writing a methodological section make sure to use the passive voice because your focus should be on the action rather than focusing on the person who is doing the action.

Skipping the limitation section

While writing a methodology almost every student face some difficulties because writing a methodology is not an easy task. Therefore, it is very important to explain what type of difficulties you faced during the entire research. However, that is true it will not help you, but it will help others making the same mistakes.

Final thoughts

Writing a research methodology is not an easy task. However, it is believed that in the entire research, the methodology section is the most difficult part yet most important. Therefore, no one can take it lightly even to get rid of it, most students try to find out one of the best dissertation writing services UK based or US-based. It depends upon their writing format.

Therefore, to overcome this problem, this article will help them to write a methodology easily. It will provide all the information regarding the methodology.