Anatomy of Chapter III of a Dissertation: Guide to Crafting the Methodology Section

1. Anatomy of Chapter III of a Dissertation Dr. Sharon A. McDade The George Washington University

2. What is Chapter III? • A plan of action – recipe steps • A process • A negotiation with your committee • The key piece of the proposal contract • When approved, it is a “license to go hunt data”

3. Format • In problem style dissertations, the methodology is typically presented as Chapter III, after the problem statement (I) and literature review (II) • Other disciplines put methodology information in appendix • Placement of methodology may vary by institution, discipline, and dissertation chair

4. Audiences • Student -- while thinking through the project • Sponsor/chair and committee members at proposal hearing • Student--during execution of the project • Defense committee • Eventual readers of the document after project completion and approval

5. The Writing Process • Evolves • Lots of rewriting • Needs lots of feedback • Share with colleagues knowledgeable about methods • Chapter on which you will get most feedback from committee members

6. The Parts of the Chapter • Think of it as a set of nested Russian dolls – each piece leads to the next piece, which is dependent upon the previous piece • Links to Chapter I: research questions, assumptions, delimitations and limitations, definitions • Links to Chapter II: theoretical constructs

7. Introduction • State purpose of study • State purpose of chapter • Outline chapter’s contents • Establish (in one concise sentence) the choice of methods and population

8. Restatement of Research Questions/Hypotheses • Copy and paste from chapter I • Your chair may prefer that you elaborate to some extent on the questions as presented here so as to show how they link together, etc.

9. Theoretical Constructs • A theoretical construct is a model of how something works, a theory about relationships, an estimate of the probability of certain actions • You should have set this up in lit review by reviewing relevant theory on which your study is predicated • Here you state the specific constructs on which your study is based, how you will apply and measure them • This section should be dripping with citations!

10. Research Paradigm • Statement of particular method that you have chosen • Justification for this choice in relationship to your research questions • Why collect data through this method? • Why use this epistemological approach? • Why is this study exploratory instead of full scale? • Student needs to read the lit on research paradigms • This section should also be dripping with citations!

11. Population and Sample • Who or what will this study examine? • First, describe parameters of population – who are they? Demographics? Features? • Second, describe the rationale for how and why a sample will be drawn • Why not contact entire population? • How large will the sample be?

12. Population and Sample • Third, describe how sample will be selected from the larger population and where the members of the sample will be found. • How will you identify subjects? • How will you gain access to site? Etc. • Fourth, describe sufficiency of number of subjects in the sample for the project • Fifth, what are characteristics of sample compared to population? (May need to fill in after drawing the sample) • Fifth, describe how your sampling strategy affects your ability to argue generalizability in Chapter V

13. Instrumentation • Which instruments will be used? Why? • Why will these instruments be used? • Where did the instruments come from or how/why did you develop them? (if you created the instruments, document the entire creation process) • Appropriateness of instruments for population studied and goals of study

14. More on Instrumentation • Measurement characteristics of the instruments (reliability, validity, etc.) • How the instruments will collect the data needed to answer the research questions and/or hypotheses (cross walk table) • How the instruments will be administered and scored

15. Sample Cross Walk Table

16. Procedures for Collecting Data • How subjects will be contacted • How instruments will be administered • How data are to be collected • How data will be handled • Details, details! Think of it as a recipe • Citations to show that you are following approved methods and not just “making it up” • The section that your committee will “fuss” about the most!

17. Problems in Data Collection • What will you do if you are not able to collect sufficient data? • What will you do to sample from non-respondents? • In light of increasing IRB documentation issues and survey response issues post 9/11, what will you do to increase responses?

18. Consideration of Human Subjects • Differences of opinions among advisers as to how to handle this • Some want description of what researcher will do and WHY these steps are appropriate to show that the student understands the process • Some feel that inclusion of IRB documents in appendix is sufficient

19. Procedures for Treating, Coding Data • What are you going to do with the data once you have it in your hands? • How will data be transcribed, entered into computer, verified? • How will data be “cleaned up,” standardized? • What will you do with the instruments after the data is entered for analysis?

20. Procedures for Analyzing Data • How will data be coded? • What are the analytical steps? • What statistical tests will be performed? (present in a table) • What statistical tests will provide appropriate results for hypotheses?

21. Data Presentation • How will data be presented to the reader? • What kinds of sections, tables, organization of information makes sense so as to answer the research questions? • Mock out any tables

22. Design Issues • Two ways to address: • A separate section that treats these issues • Insert discussions in other sections • Discuss the design issues relevant to your method • Discuss the limitations of your methodology regarding design issues, generalizability • The goal is to establish the foundation on which you will argue generalizability in Chapter V for your conclusions

23. Time Line • Present the timeline looking forward (chronological order) • Construct timeline by working backwards from when you want to graduate and then calculate how much time it will take to do each step • Be liberal in figuring how much time it will take to get feedback from advisers and for you to create rewrites • Be aware of “crunch time” for advisers when they are handling lots of other dissertations, tasks and can’t deal with your project

24. Appendices • All supporting documents for the proposal and later for the dissertation • IRB documentation • Access documents, sample contact documents • Sample analysis documents • Back up tables and charts from methodology

25. Ethics of Methodologies and Data Collection • Think through methodology and data collection ahead of time so as to consider any ethical issues and deal with them in the planning stage • The bulk of the work should be yours • Honesty in data, presentation, work is always the best policy