POINTS MUST INCLUDE IN RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Well, your research proposal is selected, right? First of all, congratulation to you for this and secondly, welcome to a new genre of research field. Ya, I would describe it as new genre because you need to research vastly to critically tailor your dissertation or research paper.  So what’s your next plan? How will you proceed in your dissertation? Have you prepared your methodology chapter to show your plan? Don’t be surprised! Research methodology is the base of every dissertation to proceed on it further. Once you have planned it, rest of your paper will conclude easily.  

It is like a tour plan. Whenever we plan for a short trip, first we plan a rough draft about our tours i.e. which sides we will visit, how many times we will spend, what will be the expense and all. Similarly, research methodology is nothing but mapping of your entire dissertation. As your proposal is selected, therefore, the primary planning is done by you. Next, you need to amplify your planning through your dissertation. Problems will be raised as actual research method will differ from your propose plan. Therefore, some basic guidelines we are providing here that you must need to include in preparing your research methodology chapter. Please follow our below points.

Setting your research strategy: The first step that you have to follow in your research methodology section is its strategical analysis. It means your set of beliefs that you must use for your study. Basically, this analysis starts with discussing research paradigms. Various kinds of paradigms are used in basic research like ontology, epistemology, positivism, interpretivism. All these are some set of beliefs and while conducting your paper, all depends upon you that how you use those beliefs and which one you should take to complete your paper. Keep in mind, your rest of the methodology part will be depended on your chosen strategy.

For suppose, if you choose positivism research paradigm, then survey, quantitative data analysis will be your instrumental analysis because positivism paradigm seeks for empirical evidence. It means you should focus on past history of your chosen subject and need to analysis its current issue accordingly. For this purpose, survey and quantitative analysis are the only options along with secondary data.

It is a case study that you need to solve as per the given issue. If I am not so wrong, then all of you have used some case study or case scenario while preparing your assignments. Just recall it. Before proceeding into that case scenario, you all have conducted a thorough research on it. After collecting all relevant data then you have started writing your papers. Right? Similarly, you must be careful while choosing your research paradigm because your entire research design is based upon that. You can’t use mix method research in positivism paradigm or only quantitative method in interpretivism paradigm. All these paradigms have some certain rules that you need to follow while conducting our research. If your proposal not approved then I will advise you to choose your paradigm after understanding your topic. It will be better if you approve your chosen strategy by your supervisor otherwise your entire research method will be in vain. 

Instrumentation analysis: The second step you need to consider is selecting proper instruments for your research. Likert scale, interview protocols are some basic and created instruments by researcher or students. So if you are selecting positivism research paradigm then Likert scale will be suitable instrument for you because of measuring unit of respondents properly. If you have short time period to complete your research paper, then through Likert scale, you can make both quantitative and small amount of qualitative analysis of your research paper.

Similarly, interview protocol will be used for interpretivism paradigms in where students/researchers are allowed for research by studying human behaviour. It means you need to follow some basic rules of social science in interpretivism paradigm.

Data analysis: This is the vital part of your methodology. Most of the students here make a mistake. They just present the feedback of respondents here. But it is not asking you to present respondents response of your samples that you have gathered from interview or Likert scale instruments. This section needs your own view after presenting respondent’s feedback.

Though the 98% part of data analysis is segregated for data analysis and findings chapter of your dissertation, but in methodology, you also have to give a summary of your findings to make your supervisor understand about your view. It is nothing but a small pilot study to present your preliminary opinion to your supervisor. In proposal, you already have presented it but in dissertation, your justification for those opinions must and must require.

Ethical considerations: This end point is too much important to prove the authenticity of your research. It is not about making your paper plagiarism free or inserts references, but consent of your respondents whom you have used or plan to use as sample for your research. Make sure, after finishing your paper, a blank consent form must be in your appendix. Also, submit 2-3 demo consent forms with your paper that show open participation of all your samples in your dissertation. If you are not allowed to submit those forms then at least carry it with you in your inspection room to prove the authenticity of your research paper. 

Maintain these basic points in your research methodology chapter. Rest you can develop through internet searching or by the guidance of your supervisor. Wishing you all the best and hope your paper will present a new and positive view to all of us readers.