Dissertation methodology is often considered to be one of the main chapters of your dissertation, which aims at informing the reader about the way the research was conducted and implemented. There is a number of aspects you should be aware of to write an informative dissertation methodology. To write this chapter of your dissertation, you should have a general idea of the existing research methods generally applied when writing a dissertation. Do not forget to mention what research methods exactly were used by you in your study. It is often underlined that the way your dissertation methodology is written reflects your general understanding of the basic principles of conducting the research.
Dissertation methodology section traditionally comprises of four parts, namely the analysis of the problems stated in your dissertation, the outline of the methodology used in the process of conducting the research, ways of gathering the required information and data as well as analysis applied in the process of drawing conclusions. If you are going to write your dissertation methodology, take into consideration the following dissertation methodology tips:
- Define the problem. As far as literature review should always precede dissertation methodology writing, it is essential to outline and summarize the basic ideas of your dissertation. In this respect, defining and analyzing the problems stated in the dissertation is of primary importance.
- Characterize the approach. Provide the reader with the review of the approach you used when conducting the research. If you want to represent your understanding of research methodology, dissertation methodology section should obligatory contain basic methodological aspects (sampling, justification etc.) applied in the process of dissertation research conduction.
- Always provide justification for the research methods you used. This point is extremely important, irrespective of what type of research you have conducted. Focus not only on what methods you applied when conducting the dissertation research, but explain their validity and significance as well. It especially concerns novel methodology used in the process of dissertation writing.
- Consider reproducibility. Researchers may benefit from being able to reproduce the results of their dissertation experiments. Reproducibility means that the results of your research are really trustworthy and your experiment may be reproduced by other researchers, who work independently. You are recommended to point out what techniques and methods exactly you used when writing your dissertation paper.
- Do not forget about the appendix. If you used any material that is somehow connected with the applied methodology, dissertation methodology chapter should obligatory contain correspondent methodological review. Make sure all the materials that are related indirectly to your dissertation, should be gathered in the appendix.
There is one more thing you should bear in mind when working on your dissertation methodology chapter. Before accomplishing it, make sure it contains information concerning how exactly the data you have obtained due to the approach and methodology used may be generalized and represented in this section of your dissertation.
