How to write a methodology chapter
Short answer
Methodology chapter
A methodology chapter explains what you did and, more importantly, why that was the right way to answer your question. It covers philosophical position, design, sampling, instruments, procedure, analysis and ethics — with a justification attached to each. A chapter that describes without justifying reads as a recipe, and recipes do not earn methodology marks.
Methodology is not methods
Methods are what you did. Methodology is the reasoning about why those methods answer this question — the argument connecting your philosophical position to your analysis.
This distinction is worth real marks. A chapter titled 'Methodology' that only lists procedures is answering the easier question, and markers say so.
The structure
Roughly 20–25% of the total word count.
- Philosophical position — positivist, interpretivist, pragmatist. Brief, but state it: it explains why the rest follows.
- Research design — quantitative, qualitative or mixed, and why the question demands it.
- Sampling — who or what, how selected, how many, and why that number.
- Instruments — the scales, schedules or protocols, with reliability and validity evidence.
- Procedure — what actually happened, in enough detail to replicate.
- Analysis — the specific tests or analytic approach, and the assumptions you checked.
- Ethics — approval, consent, confidentiality, data handling.
- Limitations — the boundaries on what your design can claim.
Justify every choice, in one sentence each
The pattern is: what you did, the alternative you rejected, and why. It takes one sentence and it is the difference between description and methodology.
'Semi-structured interviews were used rather than a survey because the study sought to understand how participants construct their reasoning, which fixed response options would foreclose.'
Apply this to sampling, instrument, analysis and timeframe. Four justified choices read as a designed study; four unjustified ones read as defaults.
Sampling: the number needs a reason
Quantitative: report a power calculation — the expected effect size, alpha, desired power and the resulting n. If you could not reach it, say so and address it in limitations rather than hoping nobody notices.
Qualitative: justify in terms of saturation and depth. Twelve interviews reaching saturation is defensible; twelve interviews because twelve people replied is not.
State the sampling strategy by name — purposive, convenience, snowball, stratified — and acknowledge what it does to generalisability. Convenience sampling is acceptable at undergraduate level; pretending it is random is not.
Write it in the past passive, mostly
'Participants were recruited through university mailing lists' rather than 'I recruited participants' or 'Participants will be recruited'.
The future tense is the most common error here — it means the chapter was written from the proposal and never updated. Markers notice immediately, and it suggests the rest may be equally unrevised.
Qualitative work often permits first person for reflexivity, and where your position affects interpretation you should say so explicitly. Check your department's preference.
Limitations that strengthen the chapter
A limitation bounds your claim; it does not retract it. Write each as: the limitation, what it affects, and what it does not.
Weak: 'The sample was small so the results may not be reliable.' This undermines your own dissertation.
Strong: 'The single-institution sample limits generalisability to comparable post-1992 providers. It does not affect the internal validity of the observed association, which the pre-registered analysis plan protects.'
Examiners reward this. Naming precisely what your design can and cannot support demonstrates that you understand it.
Enough detail to replicate
The test is simple: could a competent stranger repeat your study from this chapter alone? Instrument versions, timings, exact wording of prompts, software and version numbers all belong here.
Put full instruments in an appendix and reference them. The chapter should be readable without flipping back and forth, but the detail must exist somewhere.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between methodology and methods?
- Methods are the procedures you used. Methodology is the reasoning about why those procedures answer your research question, connecting your philosophical position through design to analysis. A chapter that lists procedures without that reasoning is a methods section wearing a methodology title.
- How long should a methodology chapter be?
- Around 20–25% of the total word count — roughly 2,500–3,000 words in a 12,000-word master's dissertation. It is usually the second-longest chapter after the literature review.
- What tense should I write it in?
- Past passive for what was done: 'participants were recruited'. Future tense is the most common error and signals a chapter copied from the proposal and never updated.
- How do I justify my sample size?
- Quantitatively, with a power calculation stating effect size, alpha, power and the resulting n. Qualitatively, in terms of saturation and case depth. Either way the number needs a reason, not just a report.
- Should limitations go in the methodology or the discussion?
- Both, at different levels. Design limitations belong in the methodology where the design is justified; their consequences for interpreting your specific findings belong in the discussion.
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