Dissertation Methodology Tips

If you are going through all this, don’t worry. Here are the top ten tips to write an excellent dissertation methodology: 

Tip 1: Remind Your Readers Of The Research Problem

You must have written a literature review before the dissertation methodology section. It focuses on the research questions and enables you to explore the problem, which will be addressed in the dissertation.

Start your methodology chapter by reminding the reader what the research problem was, so they know what’s to come in the remainder of the chapter. On your part, try to solve that initial problem, or to answer some perplexing research question you started with. 

Tip 2: Explain Your Research Approach In Detail

You are required to provide a sketch of the research type you will be using in the dissertation methodology. It will include all the methods you plan to use, as outlined in the methodology section. You should mention what conclusion you are expecting from the chosen method.

Think of this step as the part in the storytelling process where you introduce your listeners (in this case, your readers) to the main characters of your story, including their roles. Ask questions like: 

• What type of methods did you use in your research, and why? 
• How did you collect the data? 
• Did you use any software to analyse your results?

Tip 3: Ensure Reproducibility & Acknowledge Limitations

You must explain your methodology section in a way that makes it possible for others to write a dissertation by considering your own budgetary and time limits. Honesty goes a long way here. 

For instance, if you tell your readers about how you couldn’t get a set of responses from a particular institution, it might help future researchers go better prepared for such a setting.

Why explain thoroughly?

• Detect gaps in the literature.
  
• Inform readers of your research process.
  
• Teach data collection techniques.
  
• Allow critiques
  
• Add to existing knowledge.
  

Tip 4: Build On Existing Methodologies

If you built on an existing methodology, such as a specific self-esteem scale, you used a questionnaire to measure respondents’ self-esteem, as mentioned. You must be able to answer these questions, such as: 

• Did you come up with your own methodology to collect and analyse data? 
• Did you adopt or adapt an existing one? 
• Are there any reliability and/or validity issues with the existing methods? 

Explain everything to your readers. All in all, take precedence of the fact that what you have done in your data collection and methodology step might have been done by someone else out there, before you. Give them due credit. 

Describe all the things you did differently in your methods from those used by others.

Key Elements Of Methodology:

1. Research Design
   
2. Data Collection Tools
   
3. Participants
   
4. Procedures
   

Tip 5: Justify Your Methodological Choices

Always back your methodology with justification. Tell your audience the reasons why you chose this methodology for your research and why another one wasn’t suitable for you. 

While preparing the dissertation methodology, keep in mind that the more unorthodox your methodology is, the stronger its justification.

Tip 6: Be Clear And Logical About Defending Your Methods

Accurate and logical arguments must support all aspects of research. While writing the methodology section, elaborate to your readers what your logic is, not that of another researcher or writer, but solely yours, behind using method A over method B.

• Compare Alternatives 

Also, clarify how sampling technique B would not have helped you as much as sampling technique T did (hypothetical labels here, of course).

• Use Reasoning to Strengthen Your Findings 

Make sure you investigate and mention alternative options to logically claim that what you did and how you did it is more relevant than what others have done in the same research area. This logic will warm up your readers towards your justification for your results (later in the findings chapter).

Tip 7: Prioritise Reliability And Validity

One of the tips to write a dissertation methodology flawlessly is to make sure you don’t cling to a method that can raise questions about the reliability and validity. 

Make this section precise, accurate, free from errors, and provide statistical analysis details where required.

Tip 8: Choose The Right Sampling Strategy

When selecting sampling methods, it is essential to choose a sample population that aligns with the methodology to be used. If you are not familiar, different sampling methods are used for various types of research. 

• Defend your Sampling Technique 

Be as accurate and dominant about your stance regarding your choice of sample and sampling technique as possible. Why? Because, among other reasons, the finding(s) you conclude from your research will ultimately be generalised back to your research population.

• Ensure your Findings Are generalised.

Assuming that you did everything right by this point, such as identifying your population of interest, sampling from that population with minimal sampling error, and so on. Your results would be a whole lot easier to generalise back to your population if you used the appropriate sampling technique, to begin with.

Tip 9: Include An Appendix For Supporting Materials

• The methodology section cannot be completed without including the appendix to provide relevant data, such as questionnaires, responses, or any outliers that need to be mentioned.
• Since you will be mentioning and/or referring to some aspects of your data collection tool (such as question item number 4 dealt with…) at least a few times in your methodology section, it’s essential to provide that source (the tool) within an appendix.
• Ensure readers can easily cross-check your methodology details.

Tip 10: Seek Expert Guidance When Needed

If you still don’t know how to write a dissertation methodology or are facing issues in writing one, there’s nothing to worry about. Seek professional assistance from dissertation experts. They will significantly help you with all aspects of your dissertation paper. 

Whether you need help with individual chapters or the whole dissertation, they will help you achieve the desired academic grades.

Example Of A Well-Written Methodology Section

For example, writing a methodology section for a research study aimed at determining whether eating breakfast helps students focus more in class.

• A total of 20 seventh-grade students were selected for the study.
• They were divided into two groups: Group A  ate breakfast, while Group B skipped it.
• Both groups were given the same 20-minute reading test.
• Test scores were recorded for all students.

Frequently Asked Questions