Writing the methods section

R.S. Gravoso
Visayas State University, Baybay City, Leyte
[Link]@[Link] or gravoso@[Link]
 What’s the materials and methods
section?
• Methodology vs materials & methods
• A chronological description of research to
accomplish objectives
• Gives detailed account of the procedure followed
in completing experiments
• The most straightforward to write, however,
common errors occur in the ordering of
information and in the amount of detail that is
required by journals
• Provides indication of the merit of the research
 Contents of M&M
1. Materials—what you used
2. Methods—what you did, when you did it,
how was it done, how often you did it, and
why you did it?
a well written Materials and Methods (M&M)
section serves as a set of instructions for
anyone desiring to replicate the study in the
future.
 Common sections in the M&M
• Subjects
• Sample preparation techniques
• Sample origins
• Field site description
• Data collection protocol
• Data analysis techniques
• Any computer programs used
• Description of equipment and its use
Common contents of methodology
• Research sites
• Participants/respondents
• Design and sampling procedure
• Data gathering procedure
• Research instruments
• Data analysis
 Writing the M&M
• sentence form
• chronological order
• uses the past tense
• usually uses the third person
• usually uses the passive voice
• should contain sufficient details, but should
avoid trivial details
This section should be written in the past tense
since this is your work and it is already finished.

Your own work is not

presumed to be
established knowledge
until it has been
published.
Example: The frog was
mounted on a pan prior to
dissection.
 Passive vs active voice
Passive
• Studies were continued to establish the flight range
of BPH.
Active
• We continued studies to establish the flight range of
BPH.

The passive voice is accordingly weaker and

indirect.
The M & M section of a scientific paper for
publication is much condensed compared to a
full‐length manuscript such as thesis or terminal
report.

There is no specific page limit but keep this section

as concise as you possibly can, but should be
complete, precise and clear
If you used a well-known protocol, just cite
the source/author of that protocol, e.g.,
simply indicate “ The DNA extraction
procedure of Madamba et al. (2001) was
followed.
Any changes from the published protocol
should however be described.
 Completeness of M&M
• The materials and method section should
contain sufficient information to allow the
experiment to be repeated, so that
researchers can replicate or extend your
results.
• If reviewers and editors cannot tell how the
experiments were performed, the paper will
not likely be accepted.
 A friendly hint
• Show your
materials and
methods section
to a colleague/s.
Ask if they would
have difficulty in
repeating your
study
 Precision
• Give details of materials used:
– important chemicals (purity and name of supplier)
– important instruments (type, brand, model)
organisms (species, strain, cultivar, race or line
etc.), especially if you developed it yourself
• For social sciences, describe the instruments
used, tests, measurement of variables and
other details
 Clarity
• Write clearly, use a simple, easy-to-
understand sentence.
• Write the M&M under separate subheadings
• Define or use synonyms for rarely used
technical words.
• Work towards an average of 20 words per
sentence and a paragraph length of 4 to 5
sentences only.
What to include in the M&M section?
• Description of the organism(s) used in the
study.
This includes giving the source (supplier or where and
how collected), size (weight, length, etc), how they
were handled before the experiment, what they were
fed, etc. In genetics studies include the strains or
genetic stocks used. For some studies, age is
important.
• Description of the site where the study was
conducted
 physical characteristics
When possible, give the actual latitude and longitude
position of the site of a field experiment. It is most
often a good idea to include a map showing the location
in relation to some larger more recognizable geographic
area.
 biological characteristics
Example. The cropping history in the area, the current
flora and fauna found in the vicinity, etc...
• Include the date(s) when the study was
conducted.
Can be exact dates or you may just indicate “The study
was conducted during the wet season in 2010”

If you have performed experiments at a particular

location or lab because it is the only place to do it, then
you should note that in your methods and identify the
lab or facility.
• Describe the materials, equipment, and
procedures clearly
– Specialized chemicals, biological materials, and
any equipment or supplies that are not commonly
found in laboratories should be specified
– Commonly used supplies such as test tubes,
pipette tips, beakers, glass slides, may not
necessarily be mentioned
– Give the chemical names of all compounds and
preferably the chemical formulas of compounds
that are new or uncommon.
 – It is appropriate to give the source for reagents used, e.g.,
"....poly‐l‐Lysine (Sigma #1309), Peptone (Difco) or for Taq
Polymerase (NEB)
– Describe apparatus only if it is not standard or not
commercially available. In some journals, however, giving
a company name and model number in parentheses of an
equipment is acceptable to identify standard equipment.
– Write the generic names and include the trademark in
parentheses after the generic name only if the material or
product you used is somehow different from others.

• Note:In some publications, like the ACS, they avoid using

trademarks and brand names of equipment and reagents.
• Describe the treatments and experimental design
clearly.
– Be sure to include the hypotheses you tested,
controls, treatments, variables measured, how many
replicates you had, what you actually measured, in
what form was the data taken
– Always identify treatments by the variable or
treatment name, not by an ambiguous, generic name
or treatment number (e.g., use benomyl and
mancozeb for fungicidal treatments rather than T1
and T2; or use the active ingredient benomyl, instead
of Belate; mancozeb, instead of Dithane M-45).
Designators such as Tube 1, Tube 2, or Site 1 and Site
2 are completely meaningless, out of context and
difficult to follow. State the contents of tube 1 and
tube 2 (eg, E. coli and B. subtilis;

Instead of site 1 and site 2, state the location of the

site (eg. VSU site and Abuyog site).
Tips for writing M&M for social science
papers
• What methodological approach was applied to
investigate the research problem?
– Introduce the overall methodological approach
you applied for investigating the research problem
– Is your study qualitative or quantitative or a
combination of both (mixed method)?
– Did you take a special approach, such as action
research or the grounded theory approach?
• How does the study’s overall approach fit into
the research design?
– Your methods should have a clear connection with
your research problem and/or hypotheses. In
other words, make sure that your methods will
actually answer your questions. One of the most
common problems found in research papers is
that the methodology is unsuited to the stated
objective of your paper.
• How were the data gathered?
– Describe the specific methods you used to gather
the data.
• Did you use surveys, interviews, questionnaire or
observation?
• If you are analzying existing data, including data set or
archival documents, describe how these were originally
created or gathered and by whom.
• How were the data analyzed?
– Discuss how you analyzed and interpreted your
results. Did you use statistical analysis?
– Or, did you use specific theoretical perspectives to
help you analyze a text or explain observed
behaviors?
• Are unfamiliar methods applied in the study?
– Provide background and rationale for
methodologies that are unfamiliar to your readers.
– Very often in the social sciences, research
problems and the methods for investigating them
require more explanation/rationale than the
natural and physical sciences.
– Be clear and concise in your explanation.
• Why were these participants or respondent
chosen?
– Explain your reasons for the choice of your
respondents or research participants. For
instance, if you propose to conduct interviews,
how do you intend to select the sample
population?
– If you are analyzing texts, which texts have you
chosen, and why? If you are using statistics, why is
this set of statistics being used?
• Are there limitations in the research methods?
– In your paper address potential limitations. For
example, are there any practical limitations that
could affect your data collection?
– What did you do to control for potential
confounding variables and errors?
– If your research methods have limitations, state
this openly and show why pursuing this
methodology outweighs the risk of these
problems cropping up.
 Common errors in the methods
section
• Not enough information
• Background/introduction material included
• False descriptions
• Results reported
• Sources of errors discussed – reserve this for the limitations
of the study somewhere in the discussion section
• Verbose
• Inclusion of irrelevant details
 Thank you!
Questions and suggestions are welcome.