Methodology

How it is used

Names a chapter or section of a thesis or article (the methodology chapter) and appears in reviewers' comments about how sound a study is. Strictly, methodology is the rationale and methods are the specific tools, but many writers use the two words loosely.

Example sentences

1. The methodology chapter explains why a case study design was chosen.

2. One reviewer raised concerns about the methodology and asked for more detail on sampling.

Common collocations

• research methodology
• methodology chapter
• robust methodology
• describe the methodology

Related terms

• researchCareful, systematic study of a subject in order to discover new facts, test ideas or reach new conclusions.
• qualitativeDescribing research that studies experiences, meanings and behavior through words, images or observation rather than numbers, often with smaller groups of people.
• quantitativeDescribing research that collects numerical data and uses statistics to measure, compare or test relationships, often with larger samples.
• mixed methodsA research design that combines qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis in one study to answer a question more fully.
• sampleThe smaller group of people, items or texts selected from a larger population for a study, so that conclusions can be drawn about that population.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• methodology · Project Management

More terms: Research Design

• research question
• hypothesis
• participant
• questionnaire
• case study
• carry out
• validity
• reliability
• variable
• survey
• data collection
• population