CHAPTER III:

METHODOLOGY
(WRITING THE
METHOD SECTION)
Writing the Method Section
The detailed procedures on how data were collected and analysed in the inquiry procedure
should be well described and documented.

It allows other researchers an opportunity to better appreciate the results of your study
because the procedures you used are sound and defensible.

Describing your method or procedures will let other researchers replicate or improve on your
work.

Your procedure is now part of the literature in someone else’s study.

This is the test that your study has a significant contribution to the field of knowledge, when
your work is being cited or referred to by other researchers.
Writing the Method Section
The method section describes in sufficient detail how the study was conducted.

The method section should be written in the past tense because you reporting what has already
happened.

The method section should contain the following sections.

1. Research Design 4. Instruments and other data collection

techniques
2. Research Setting
5. Data Analysis
3. Participants
Research Design
Describe the type of quantitative research design that you will adopt for the study.

Justify the use of the research design by stating the goals of the study and reiterating your
problem statements.

Is the study a true experimental or quasi-experimental research design?

If there is no intervention employed, then non-experimental quantitative research design like

correlation and comparative research.

Depending on your research goals, is the study descriptive, correlational, comparative, etc.
Research Setting
Where will you collect data?

Identify the place of data collection.

Are you collecting data in a school setting, in your neighbourhood, in a mall, or in your
barangay?

Write an explanation of the context, rationale and a brief history of the research setting.
Participants
Describe explicitly the sampling procedures adopted for the study.

If the study is quantitative, justify the number of participants who answered the survey
questionnaire.

Describe the sampling technique used, whether it is random sampling, stratified sampling or
non-probability sampling.
Instruments and Other Data Collection Techniques
Explicitly describe all instruments used in the study as well as the various ways by which data
were collected.

Describe the variables being measured by the different parts of the instrument.

Describe also how such instruments will be administered and the expected quantitative data
obtained from the administration.

It is best to refer the reader to an appendix of the actual instrument.

Data Analysis
The method section ends with data analysis.

This is the section where you will describe how the data in your study were analysed.

For the quantitative or numerical data that you collected, mention the analytic tools employed
to interpret the data obtained from the administration of the instruments or other data
collection techniques.
Data Analysis
This section should also answer the following questions:
How did you treat or interpret the
quantitative data obtained from the
different sections of the instrument?
What descriptive statistics used or
inferential statistics?
If you are reporting ratings, what is the
meaning associated with this mean
ratings.
What applicable statistical tools (e.g.
Pearson’s, Chi-Square or ANOVA) did
you use?
Did you simply describe categorical
data or did you compare groups
against an identified grouping
variable?
How did you arrive at this
interpretation?
Data Analysis
It is best to refer the reader to the relevant literature on how you treated quantitative data.

The data analysis section of your final paper should also include procedures on testing for the
significant difference among groups (e.g. z-test and t-test for dependent and independent
samples.)

Describe the procedures as well to test for relationships (e.g. Pearson’s r, Spearman rank, and
point-biserial coefficient.

To describe, use graphs and table. For the likert questions, use weighte mean
Participants - Sampling
Sampling is the process of selecting a portion of the population.

Sample Size Determination: (Using the Slovin’s Formula)

𝑵 Where:
𝒏= 𝟐
𝟏+ 𝑵 𝒆