Research Methodology (Chapter 3): What to Write in Each Section

Chapter 3 explains how you did your research, in enough detail that another researcher could repeat it. Examiners read it to decide whether your results can be trusted.

Typical sections

1. Research philosophy / paradigm — e.g. positivism for quantitative surveys, interpretivism for qualitative interviews.
2. Research approach — deductive (testing hypotheses) or inductive (building understanding).
3. Research design — e.g. quantitative, cross-sectional survey; experimental; case study; mixed methods.
4. Population — the whole group you want to talk about, with numbers if available.
5. Sampling technique — probability (simple random, stratified, cluster) or non-probability (convenience, purposive, snowball). Justify your choice honestly.
6. Sample size — with a method: Krejcie & Morgan table, Cochran or Yamane formula, or G*Power. Try our sample size calculator.
7. Instrument — the questionnaire/interview guide, its sections, sources of scales and response format.
8. Validity and reliability — expert review, pilot test, Cronbach’s alpha.
9. Data collection procedure — how, when and where data was collected; response rate.
10. Ethical considerations — consent, confidentiality, voluntary participation, approval.
11. Data analysis — software and the specific tests for each objective/hypothesis.

Tense

In a proposal, write Chapter 3 in the future tense (“data will be collected”). In the final thesis, change it to past tense (“data were collected”).

Link every analysis to an objective

Common examiner comments

• “Sample size not justified.”
• “Convenience sampling used but results generalised to the whole population.”
• “Instrument sources not cited.”
• “No pilot test or reliability reported.”

Answer these in advance and your methodology will stand up in the viva.

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