Dissertation Methodology Meaning & Its Importance

The methodology is considered an important element of the Dissertation. Students studying master’s or undergraduate courses often face issues in determining an appropriate way of writing the dissertation methodological chapter. In this article, our expert team of dissertation writing is providing you with guidelines for writing the methodology chapter in the Dissertation.

What is the Dissertation Methodology?

Before starting to write a methodology section in the dissertation, you are required to determine approaches or techniques you will utilize for performing research. At the time of writing a Dissertation Proposal, it is very much essential for you to provide information about the process which you will utilize for collecting, interpreting, and analyzing information. The methodology chapter in the dissertation enables the reader to evaluate the validity and reliability of the research. In the dissertation methodology section, you are also required to include detail about the type of research you are going to execute.

Note: You need to write a Dissertation methodology section in the past tense.

How to write a Methodology section for the dissertation?

The 4 steps you need to follow for writing Dissertation methodology are:

Step 1: Explain the Methodological approach

You should begin writing the Dissertation methodology section by sharing information about the approach that you will utilize for performing research. It is also very much important for you to specify the problem on which you are going to undertake the study. You should also clearly specify the information you will require for answering research questions. The different techniques which you can use for answering research Questions are:

A) Quantitative methods

It is the technique that is most suitable for measuring, categorizing, making generalizations and doing identification of patterns.

B) Qualitative Methods

It is considered the most suitable technique which you can utilize for describing the phenomenon. You can utilize qualitative techniques for contextualizing and interpreting facts. The main advantages of using the Qualitative technique are that it helps in developing a detailed understanding of phenomena or concepts.

C) Mixed Methods

It is the technique that enables the researcher to integrate numerical measurements and helps them in exploring hidden aspects of the issue.

Considering the approach and field of investigation, you need to start writing the dissertation methodology section by discussing the reason and assumptions underpinning the methodology. You also need to think about the following such as:

• Research Aim or research questions
• A suitable approach for answering research Questions
• Does there is any standard method in the respective field?
• Ethical and Philosophical considerations

Example 1:

In the context of Quantitative research, the main aim of your research can be to gain general knowledge about the reason for the occurrence of a particular phenomenon. It is very much essential for you to develop an understanding that to make your research highly valid you need to control variables that could be easily replicated by other investigators.

Example 2:

To the observation of participants in Qualitative research, the main aim of the researcher may be to gain ethnographic knowledge related to attitude, social behavior, and a shared value of a particular group of people. The biggest drawback of Qualitative research is that you cannot control the variables. But in case you are qualitative research you can write a reflection on your position as a researcher. At the time of making selection of research methodology section for dissertation, you need to think about the way participations or perception may influence the research results.

Step 2: Include information about data collection

After you have provided the methodological approach you need to provide a complete detail about the methods that you are going to utilize for performing research. It is also very much important for you to highlight the tools or processes you are going to execute for gathering information. You also need to set criteria for selecting participants.

Quantitative Methods

The 3 types of Quantitative research methods are Surveys, Experiments, and Existing data.

1. Surveys

In the dissertation methodology section, you need to provide information about when, where, and how you are going to perform research. It is also very much important for you to provide detail about the technique or approach you will use for designing research questions. Researchers also need to provide information about the technique they will use for selecting participants. You should also mention the size of the sample and the rate of response. An investigator can place the questionnaire in the appendix of the Dissertation.

2. Experiments

You are requiring providing complete detail about the tools, techniques, and processes which you are going to perform during the experiment. In the context of experimental research, you must provide detailed information so that other researchers can reproduce similar outcomes.

3. Existing Data

You should give detail about the technique you will use for gathering information. It is also very essential for you to provide information about sources from which you have collected data.

Quantitative methods: Example

The researcher has performed an investigation for identifying the number of customers who are highly satisfied with the products or services offered by the organization. Investigator has select 400 customers of Arc Company as participants in research using a random sampling technique. Investigator has performed a survey for gathering information. The researcher has planned to provide all participants with five minutes for answering questions in the survey form. After that survey, the result is included in the analysis.

Qualitative Methods

Researchers mainly use 3 types of Qualitative research methods these are Interviews, Participants Observation, and Existing data.

1. Interview

You need to describe where, when, and how you are going to perform an interview. It is very much important for you to provide information about the way you will identify and select participants. At the same time, you also need to determine the number of participants you will select, and whether you are going to perform a structured, semi-structured, or unstructured interview.

2. Participant observation

You need to describe when, where, and how you will do the observation. It is very much essential for you to provide a description of the group or community you will observe, the technique you will use for accessing them, the time you will spend performing research, the location, the method you will use for recording data, etc.

3. Existing data

Here, you need to explain the way you will select a case study material.

Example of Qualitative Methods

Researcher for developing understanding about possibilities of improvement in range of products has performed the semi-structured interview. The researcher has select 10 customers as participants in the study. Customers are those people who buy goods or services offered by the organization. An investigator will apply a survey technique for the collection of information. People belonging to the age of 20 to 45 years of age will be selected as participants in the study. The researcher will use a random sampling technique for selecting participants.

Step 3: Describe techniques of Data analysis

It is a step where you need to represent the way the researcher will process and analyze information. You should not provide detailed information. Here, it is very much essential for you to present or discuss the research results.

1. Quantitative Research Methods

In the context of Quantitative Research methods, you can analyze numbers. In this methodology section of the Dissertation you are required to include the following:

• Information about the way you will prepare data before analyzing it.
• You also need to determine which software you will utilize for analyzing the data.
• The statistical technique you are going to utilize.

Example of Quantitative Research Method

The researcher has planned to gather information before analysis. A review of information is done by the investigator to identify missing data. An investigator has planned to use the outlier labeling rule for addressing missing information. After that researcher will analyze data using the software for using statistical technique.

2. Qualitative Methods

In the context of Qualitative research, you need to analyze images, language, and observations. The different techniques you can utilize different techniques for analyzing the information are:

a) Content analysis: It includes coding and categorizing themes and ideas.

b) Narrative analysis: This technique involves analyzing the structure of storytelling and interpreting its meaning.

c) Discourse analysis: It involves looking at communication and meaning in a social context.

Example of Qualitative methods

Interview techniques are transcribed and open coded for categorizing open themes and identifying patterns. The researcher has analyzed all themes for developing in-depth understanding about perception and motivation of participants.

Step 4: Evaluation and justification of methodological choices

In the methodology chapter of your dissertation, you need the proper reason for selecting a specific approach or technique for performing research. You can discuss how an appropriate research method is about accomplishing the desired objective of the study. It is also very crucial for you to demonstrate the way a specific research approach or technique contributes to new knowledge. In the dissertation methodology section, you can write the limitations of the study. You can also clearly state the weakness of the approach which you have used for performing research.

For instance, by performing the experiments in lap you cannot develop an understanding about the behavior of people in real-life situations. You can perform experimental research for analyzing the relationship between cause and effect.

Conclusion

From the above study, it has been concluded that the methodology section is very important in the dissertation. The other thing which has been found from above is that reliability and validity of research are completely based on the methods which you are choosing for performing research.