After reading method and research design, I have a further understanding for how to go about completing the methods section of my paper. The article starts out asking two basic questions, how was the data collected or generated? The other question is how was the data analyzed, so in other words it explains to the reader how the results were obtained. This article also explains that using different methods will generate different results. For example a multiple choice survey versus conducting an interview on the subjects at hand. Readers are also intersested in the way the research was conducted to find out if it is consistent with an acceptable field of study. For a questionare for example, writers must provide a reasonable range of answers for the reader to best answer the questions at hand. Another thing pointed out is that the methods that are used must be correspondent to the objectives of the study. There are also some common problems in the way writers go about completing their methods section. Irrelavent detail and unnecessary explanation of basic procedures are two common ones . These are just some basic ins and outs of composing a successful methods sections.
The second article i found was a little more simplified than the first one, but not as helfpful. This article’s basic theme is stated as the methods being the key in answering the research question of the paper. Explaining the experimental design was also mentioned, along with explaining how the results were analyzed. “Therefore, the methods section structure should: describe the materials used in the study, explain how the materials were prepared for the study, describe the research protocol, explain how measurements were made and what calculations were performed, and state which statistical tests were done to analyze the data(Kallet).” Pointed out is the number of subsequent drafts that should be completed, to ensure a thourough and logical explanation of how the writer went about the methods they chose.
Works cited:
“Writing up Research: Method and Research Design.” Language Center. Web. 10 Mar. 2010. http://www.languages.ait.ac.th/el21meth.htm#top.
Kallet, RH. “How to write the methods section of a research paper.” ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. October. 2004.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15447808
