Research Writing
Chapter 3: Methodology
English High School
Teacher Jhei Baylon
S.Y. 2024-2025
Chapter Three Objective
• To describe the methodology of your project creation or data
collection
• Written in past tense – because you usually revise this after you
have completed the work.
Chapter Three Introduction
• Identify problem & restate the research/project
question (Do not repeat your entire Ch 1.)
• Preview the contents of the chapter
• For a thesis label your methods: qualitative or
quantitative, data collection method, participants,
tools, design …
• Use all of the titles of subsection in the introduction
as sign posts for the reader to know what is
coming.
Design
RESEARCH THESIS
• Name the thesis design: Quantitative surveys
• Explain how this methodology is a valid (good
match) to answer the research question
• Cite research that supports this design choice
CURRICULUM PROJECT
• Name what you created for the project:
6 week Language Arts Unit for 6th Grade
• Describe the components
Participants/Audience
RESEARCH THESIS
•Identify
how many participants, criteria for in/exclusion and
characteristic (demographics- race, class, ELL, Sp. Ed., …)
•Identify
sampling, selection, recruitment, consent, and
safeguard process (& mortality rate)
CURRICULUM PROJECT
Who is the targeted audience for the curriculum?
•Useproper citations for each process – how is this based on
another model
•Can combine Participants/Audience & Setting
Setting
Identify where study is taking place
or the where the audience is located for curriculum
project
• Geography
• Location (pseudonyms for research)
• Demographics of class, school, faculty…
• Cultural-political climate
• Time elapse of study
Explain how the setting is conducive for study/project and
what impact it may have on findings/implementation
Instrument
RESEARCH THESIS
Describe the data collection instrument (survey, questions, test…)
CURRICULUM PROJECT
Describe the instruments that guided project development (lesson
format, schedule, standards…)
THESIS & PROJECT
•Provide example of instrument(s)
•Explain how it’s a good match for study/project
•Use proper citation for referencing instrument design & modeling
Research Procedures
• List the steps to conduct study so specifically that
someone could replicate. Articulate who did what &
when to collect the data.
• Explain why you chose these steps
• Uses proper citation for Methodology
• Written in past tense
• Articulate how author is an insider/outsider
with this sample/site data collection
Project Procedures
• List the steps to conduct project. Be so specifically that
someone could replicate.
• Explain why you chose these steps.
• Uses proper citation for Methodology
• Written in past tense.
Project Procedures Example
1. Reviewed Literature on curriculum area
2. Identified Best Practices for Curriculum & Instruction
(share your best practice list)
3. Used Understanding by Design’s Backward Planning
(McTighe & Wiggins, 2011)
a. Identified Desired Results (Learning Product)
b. Determined evidence of student learning
c. Planned Learning Activities
4. Designed Curriculum with the Best Practices in Mind
5. Evaluated/Revised based on Best Practices
Data Analysis
• Identify the process you used to analyze data
• Specify if your analysis is grounded and/or with what
particular lens and name the lens and why you chose
it.
• Describe how you can validate your findings
• Use proper citation for analysis
Chapter Three Conclusion
• Summarize key concepts in Chapter 3
• Re-articulate research/project question
• If a thesis, recap the data collection procedures
• If a project, recap the best practices and how they
informed the curriculum creation.
• Provide a transition to Chapter 4
The Roles of the Literature
• Define the perimeters of the investigator’s field.
• Placing the research question in perspective.
• Learning which methods and instruments have been
useful and those that have less potential.
• Avoiding unintentional replication of previous studies
• Placing researchers in a better position to interpret the
significance of their own results.
Steps for Writing your Literature Review
• Identify a topic for investigation
• Locate the relevant literature
• Critically evaluate the existing literature.
• Organize the quality and relevant information outlining
the writing process.
• Present the information identifying the existing research
and the purpose and benefits of the new research.
Evaluating your Literature Review
• You must search and sift through all of the information
encasing the topic of interest and ask:
• Are there loopholes in existing research?
• What are the benefits of existing studies and will a new
study add to the literature?
• What are the limitations of the study under
consideration?
Contributions to the Existing Literature
• Conducting a literature review will orient the
researcher with existing literature.
• The researcher will seek to demonstrate how a
topic or question will make a contribution to
existing literature.
• The researcher seeks to demonstrate that work
is not an unnecessary replication of a study.
Content of a Literature Review
• Relevant literature may take several forms
including books, book chapters, published
journal articles, conference papers or
presentations, theses or doctoral dissertations.
• When choosing sources consider:
• Is it scholarly work?
• Does it have application to the topic?
• Is it based on theory?
Is the Source Trustworthy?
• Researchers may want to consider the
following questions when examining existing
literature:
• Is the author an expert?
• Is the source current?
• Is the source complete?
• Is the source biased or unbiased?
• Is the source accurate and logical?
Other Sources…
• Internet Sources (Be cautious)
• Primary Sources
• Work that is considered the original report of
research providing firsthand information or is the first
published account is known as a primary source.
• Secondary Sources (Second hand accounts)
• An assembled review of primary sources
• May include textbooks, magazines, newspapers,
television, radio, journal articles, documentaries,
encyclopedias and nonfiction books.
Chapter 2 Guidelines
• Create an outline and process goals to guide
work for the project.
• Process goals are objectives needed to
accomplish a task.
• Break the assignment into manageable pieces.
• Work on one task at a time.
Chapter 2 Guidelines
• The use of section headers creates clear and
logical flow.
• Organize the existing research by points of
relevance and elaborate on conclusions in the
existing body of research.
• Organize by theoretical foundation and draw
relationships between the current project and
previous studies.
Chapter 2 Guidelines
• The use of section headers creates clear and
logical flow.
• Organize the existing research by points of
relevance and elaborate on conclusions in the
existing body of research.
• Organize by theoretical foundation and draw
relationships between the current project and
previous studies.
Chapter 2 Guidelines
• Rules of Thumb:
• There should be a source for every citation and a
citation for every source.
• If a source is in your reference list, it should be used
somewhere in the body of your paper.
Chapter 2 Organization
• Include findings from other studies
• Report research that supports and challenges the need for the
study
• Do not cite content from the literature review from another
article, rather locate the primary source
• Synthesize citations from multiple sources throughout the
paragraphs whenever possible
• Pull the findings from other articles first, then organize and
write manuscript
• Determine how many references are needed