DescribingMethods

In the Methods section of a dissertation or research article, writers give an account of how they
carried out their research. The Methods section should be clear and detailed enough for another
experiencedpersontorepeattheresearchandreproducetheresults.Wherethemethodschosen
arenew, unfamiliaror perhaps evencontroversial, or wherethe intended audienceis from many
disciplines, the Methods section will tend to be much more extensive. Typical stretches of text
found in this section of a research article or dissertation along with examples of the kind of
languageusedforthesearelistedbelow.Notethatformanyofthefunctionalcategorieslistedlater
inthissection,theverbsarewritteninthesimplepasttenseandarepassive.

Describingpreviouslyusedmethods
ManyresearchershaveutilisedXtomeasure
Oneofthemostwellknowntoolsforassessing
Traditionally,Xhasbeenassessedbymeasuring...
Anumberoftechniqueshavebeendevelopedto
Differentmethodshavebeenproposedtoclassify
Xisthemainnoninvasivemethodusedtodetermine...
DifferentauthorshavemeasuredXinavarietyofways.
SeveralmethodscurrentlyexistforthemeasurementofX.
Previousstudieshavebasedtheircriteriaforselectionon...
Xisoneofthemostcommonproceduresfordetermining
Therearethreemaintypesofstudydesignusedtoidentify
TheuseoflifestorydatahasarelativelylongtraditionwithinX.
RecentadvancesinXmethodshavefacilitatedinvestigationof
Thereareanumberofinstrumentsavailableformeasuringthe
XandYarecurrentlythemostpopularmethodsforinvestigating
Recently,simplerandmorerapidtestsofXhavebeendeveloped.
Inmostrecentstudies,Xhasbeenmeasuredinfourdifferentways.
Theuseofqualitativecasestudiesisawellestablishedapproachin...
Xshavebeenusedinthepasttoinvestigatethemechanicalpropertiesof
CasestudieshavebeenlongestablishedinXtopresentdetailedanalysisof...
Sincethe1950s,researchershaveusedamultitudeofscientificmethodsto
Thistestiswidelyavailableandhasbeenusedinmanyinvestigationalstudies.
Todate,variousmethodshavebeendevelopedandintroducedtomeasureX.
Inrecentyears,twodifferentapproacheshaveattemptedtoaccountforthe
ThemethodsformeasuringXhavevariedsomewhatacrossthisresearcharea.
Inrecentyears,molecularmethodshavebeenutilisedforthequantificationof
AvarietyofmethodsareusedtoassessX.Eachhasitsadvantagesanddrawbacks.
MorerecentexamplesofnarrativestudieswithinXcanbefoundintheworkofSmith(2010).
TwoofthemostcommonmethodsforestimatingXaretheuseofYandthemeasurementofZ.

employed
basedtheirapproacheson
Xstudies usedmodelsystemstopredict
havetraditionally
StudiesofX adoptedfunctionalistperspectives
utilisedapopulationbasedapproach.
relieduponparticipantobservationas

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assess
testfor
identify
utilisedto
Various capture
methodshavebeen proposedto
Different quantify
employedto
measure
determine
investigate

Givingreasonswhyaparticularmethodwasadopted
AmajoradvantageofXisthat
Thebenefitofthisapproachisthat
ThedecisiontouseXwasbasedon
Xbasedmethodsprovideameansof
Xwasselectedforitsreliabilityandvalidity.
Acasestudyapproachwasusedtoallowa...
Thismethodisparticularlyusefulinstudying...
Aquantitativeapproachwasemployedsince...
Qualitativemethodsofferaneffectivewayof...
Thedesignofthequestionnaireswasbasedon...
TheXmethodisoneofthemorepracticalwaysof...
Thesemistructuredapproachwaschosenbecause...
TheXapproachhasanumberofattractivefeatures:...
TheadvantagesofXsarethattheyaresimpletodeliver.
Thesecondadvantageofusingthemultivariatemethodis...
Thestudyusesqualitativeanalysisinordertogaininsightsinto...
OneadvantageoftheXanalysisisthatitavoidstheproblemof...
Anotheradvantageofusingcomputersimulationsisthatitallows
Continuoussamplingmethodshaveanumberofadvantagesover
Thecollaborativenatureofthefocusgroupoffersanotheradvantage
Itwasdecidedthatthebestmethodtoadoptforthisinvestigationwasto...
Qualitativemethodscanbemoreusefulforidentifyingandcharacterising
Manyofthedistributionswerenotnormalsononparametricsignedranktestswererun.
Itwasconsideredthatquantitativemeasureswouldusefullysupplementandextendthe...

Acasestudyapproachwas
toensurethat
tohelpunderstandhow
toallowadeeperinsightinto
toconductthisexploratorystudy.
used toevaluatetheeffectivenessof
chosen togainadetailedunderstandingof
adopted todeterminethefactorsthataffect...
toassessthemanagementpracticesof
toobtainfurtherindepthinformationonthe...
tocapturethecomplexitiesofthephenomenon.
toproviderounded,detailedillustrationsofthe

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Zscores
focusgroups
aratingscale

secondarydata
key
selfreportdata
major
longitudinaldata
distinct
retrospectivedata
A(n) obvious
regressionanalysis
The practical advantage ofusing isthat
naturalspeechdata
One potential
semistructuredinterviews
additional

important
aconveniencesample
significant
acasestudyapproach

acomparativeapproach
amixedmethodapproach
amultidimensionalapproach

dating
gathering
collecting
successful
methods for evaluating
Xisoneofthemost widelyused
techniques (usedfor) estimating
commonlyused
measuring
identifying
determining

Referringtotheliteraturetojustifyamethodorapproach
Inarecentarticle,Smith(2009)arguesthatcasestudiesoffer
Smithetal.(1994)identifyseveraladvantagesofthecasestudy...
Jones(2012)arguesthatcasestudiesareusefulwhentheconditionsoftheresearch
AccordingtoSmith(2011),semistructuredinterviewshaveawidespreadpopularityin
ThesensitivityoftheXtechniquehasbeendemonstratedinareportbySmithetal.(2011).
Jones(2006)pointsoutthatthereisaroleforbothqualitativeandquantitativeapproachesin

Givingreasonswhyaparticularmethodwasrejected
Thelimitationofthisapproachisthat
Adisadvantageofmanycohortstudiesisthat
Amajorproblemwiththeexperimentalmethodisthat...
Themaindisadvantageoftheexperimentalmethodisthat...
Theprincipallimitationoftheexperimentalapproachisthat
However,therearecertaindrawbacksassociatedwiththeuseof...
However,thismethodclearlyisnotvalidforanalysinglongtermtrendsin
Thereareobviousdifficultiesinacceptingthereliabilityofselfreportinformation.
Therearecertainproblemswiththeuseoffocusgroups.Oneoftheseisthatthereisless...

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Indicatingaspecificmethod
ThesolutionwasthenassayedforXusingtheYmethod.
XwaspreparedaccordingtotheprocedureusedbyJonesetal.(1957).
ThesynthesisofXwasdoneaccordingtotheprocedureofSmith(1973).
XwassynthesisedusingthesamemethodthatwasdetailedforY,using...
SampleswereanalysedforXaspreviouslyreportedbySmithetal.(2012).
AnalysiswasbasedontheconceptualframeworkproposedbySmithetal.(2002).
ThiscompoundwaspreparedbyadaptingtheprocedureusedbyJonesetal.(1990).

Describingthecharacteristicsofthesample
Thecohortwasdividedintotwogroupsaccordingto...
Arandomsampleofpatientswith...wasrecruitedfrom...
ArticlesweresearchedfromJanuary1965untilApril2014.
Thesamplewasrepresentativewithrespecttogenderand
FortysevenstudentsstudyingXwererecruitedforthisstudy.
Asystematicliteraturereviewwasconductedofstudiesthat...
Justoverhalfthesample(53%)wasfemale,ofwhom69%were...
Oftheinitialcohortof123students,66werefemaleand57male.
Eligiblewomenwhomatchedtheselectioncriteriawereidentifiedby
Onlychildrenagedbetween10and15yearswereincludedinthestudy.
Theparticipantsweredividedintotwogroupsbasedontheirperformanceon...
Twogroupsofsubjectswereinterviewed,namelyXandY.Thefirstgroupwere...
Theprojectusedaconveniencesampleof32firstyearmodernlanguagesstudents.
Alloftheparticipantswereagedbetween18and19atthebeginningofthestudy...
AllstudiesdescribedasusingsomesortofXprocedurewereincludedintheanalysis.
Participantswererecruitedfrom15clinicsacross...,coveringurbanandruralareas...
Theinitialsampleconsistedof200students,75ofwhombelongedtominoritygroups.
Semistructuredinterviewswereconductedwith17maleoffenderswithameanageof38years.

Indicatingcriteriaforselectionorinclusion
Criteriaforselectingthesubjectswereasfollows:
Publicationswereonlyincludedintheanalysisif
Theparticipantsinthisstudywererecruitedfrom
ToidentifyX,thefollowingparameterswereused:
Theareaofstudywaschosenforitsrelativelysmall...
PrimaryinclusioncriteriafortheXparticipantswere
Eligibilitycriteriarequiredindividualstohavereceived...
Fiveindividualswereexcludedfromthestudyonthebasisof...
Asmallsamplewaschosenbecauseoftheexpecteddifficultyinobtaining...
Thesubjectswereselectedonthebasisofthedegreeofhomogeneityoftheir...
Acomparisongroupof12malesubjectswithoutanyhistoryofXwasdrawnfromapoolof...

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