Category Archives: methodology

a festive gift from patter – a checklist for revising methods chapters

Posted on December 23, 2019 by

PhDers sometimes find writing the thesis methods chapter a pretty tedious business. But the methods chapter is a key part of the examination process – it shows that the researcher knows how to research. You see, examiners make their decision … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, data, data analysis, methodology, methods, methods chapter, research methods, revision, revision strategy, thesis revision | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

writing course – the Methods Section

Posted on February 5, 2015 by

Methods. Methodology. Being methodical. All of the above. The third day of the writing workshop (predictably, since we are following an ILMRaD structure) focused on what goes in the Methods Section of a journal article. And predictably again, the first … Continue reading →

Posted in methodology, methods | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

the audit trail – a common omission from methods chapters

Posted on August 14, 2014 by

It’s really important to put an ‘audit trail’ into your methods chapter. Audit trail? Well, it doesn’t actually matter what you call it, it’s the section in the chapter where you give the examiner the nuts and bolts information about … Continue reading →

Posted in evidence, examination criteria, examiner, methodology, methods chapter | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

do we ‘collect’ data? or – beware the ontological slip …

Posted on March 11, 2013 by

A post where I have a small rant about one of my least favorite research expressions… We’ve all heard of a Freudian slip. This is where we inadvertently say something that unintentionally reveals an unconscious, or repressed, feeling, idea or … Continue reading →

Posted in data, epistemology, methodology, ontology | Tagged , , , , , | 20 Comments

getting tense about tense

Posted on March 7, 2013 by

In a recent comment to this blog someone asked me if I had any tips on managing tense. They found themselves, they said, wandering around in time as they wrote, meandering from present to past and back again, undertaking an … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, grammar, literature review, methodology, methods chapter, tense, thesis | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

methodology isn’t methods.. or… what goes in a methods chapter

Posted on February 18, 2013 by

Since I’ve been posting about methods and methodology, I’ve been asked several times to discuss the difference between methodology and methods and how these appear in a methods chapter. This post is by way of an answer. Not all dissertations … Continue reading →

Posted in epistemology, methodology, methods chapter, ontology, research design, research methods, thesis | Tagged , , , , | 34 Comments