By Alaina Agnes

Thinking of going for your master’s degree but worried about having to write a dissertation? In master’s and doctorate programs, when students are finally assigned to do their thesis or dissertation project, the most challenging aspect they find while making their dissertation is the methodology. “Chapter 3: Methodology” is the most significant part of every research document.

Do you know why methodology holds much significance? Because this chapter explains how you obtained your results! The chapter should be clear, precise, and informative to your readers, as well as to the managing authorities in your academic institution.

What is Methodology?

The methodology is the systematic procedure that you employ to achieve a certain result. The choice of methodology is based on the nature of research, environment, audience, and sustainability.

When it comes to writing methodology, there are two broad categories of research: quantitative and qualitative. You can choose the one that suits the topic best based on your subject, or a combination of the two, as the research procedure may include collecting data, interviews, questionnaires, and deep observation.

How to Write a Methodology Chapter

Following are a few steps to write a methodology in a sequential way:

Introduction

The thesis stated in the introduction must be clear. In the third chapter, you have to bring back the thesis statement again, and raise the research questions which are justified in the literature review.

Conceptual Design

Now, again reintroduce the significance of your research project and define any technical terms that will be used. Avoid listing definitions as points. Highlight some of the ideas and issues which your research will address.

Methodological Context

In methodological context, you have to raise concrete arguments supported with solid evidence or facts.

Method

It includes the following:

Sample – What was your source of data and why? What method or procedure did you use for a sample? And what major characteristics you are going to take into account for your research?
Instruments – Which sources did you use to collect data such an as books, journals, or online platforms? Explain how instruments used were effective in data collection and analysis, and justify the method used. You have to explain the reliability and strength of tools used in your research. Clarify if any pilot studies have already done before, and if there were adjustments made to the tools used in data collection.
How was Data Collected? – Explain how you collected your data and what challenges you encountered while collecting the required data for research. How did you tackle them and prove they won’t compromise the research findings?
Significance & limitations – Restate the significance of research and its benefits to the world, and restate the limitations of your research.
Proposed data analysis – Show the analysis conducted on specific attributes, the sequence, and how analysis relates to other researchers done your research.

What Else to Include in your Methodology

The methodology ought to be connected back to the writing to clarify why you are utilizing sure strategies and your preferred scholastic premise.

If you are submitting as a solitary proposal, then the methodology ought to clarify what you did, with any refinements that you made as your work advanced. Once more, it ought to have an unmistakable scholarly support of the considerable number of decisions that you made and be connected back to the writing.

Language in the Qualitative Methodology Chapter

The use of language in the Methodology chapter, whether it’s quantitative or qualitative, mirrors the distinctive suppositions of the two valuable ways to deal with scholarly research.

Many students don’t pay notice to the utilization of tense while composing an exploration. A brief purview of the passive in English shows that it has to do with data grouping. In composed English, it is the standard for old (or known) data to come towards the start of the sentence and for new data to come later.

Conclusion

The importance of dissertation methodology is that it gives a uniform structure to the end product, and allows all readers to know the methods you used in arriving at the results posted in the conclusion. Your advisor will want you to offer convincing reasons as to why you’ve chosen the approach you have – so be ready!