Drafting Methods Section

Now that you have decided what you will do for your field research, it is time to write the methods section to your revised research plan (this will also be the methods section for your final paper, so it is important that you write in past tense). As we have gone over in class, you will present your methods in as much detail as possible. The goal is for your research to be replicable--this means that another researcher can easily repeat the steps of your research (remember the details from the methodology sections of student papers that we deemed as more successful). You should be able to describe and justify every step of your research methodology. Explain what you did, what you asked, and why.

Remember, these steps are flexible. You will likely need to make adjustments based on what is necessary for your research area and methodology. With that said, these steps are a great jumping off point for writing an effective and detailed methodology section that is replicable and viable for your final project.

Here are some steps to follow:

1. What type of study (interview, survey, observation/focus group) did you conduct, and what was its purpose? {notice that this question along with the others is in past tense, and I want your response to be in past tense too- this will save you a load of time in the end because you will not have to go back and make everything past tense}
Start with: I conducted a _______________ in order to __________________.

2.Where/with whom was your study conducted? Why did you pick this group?
Start with: I studied/observed/surveyed ______ # of people (adults/students) in __________ because ____________.

3.How did you chose your participants?
Example: My participants were chosen based on their willingness to participate in my study and under the criteria that they had taken the FCAT Writes exam and Composition I at SSC. I chose this criteria because _______________.

4.What were you looking for in your study, or what types of questions did you ask your participants?
Start with: In my ___________ I asked questions regarding ____________. These questions were important because___________.
OR: I conducted a study that required my participants to ___________ because _____________.

5. Provide examples of your questions, and explain why these examples are important.
Start with: For example, I asked the question ______________ because ____________. Also, I asked ___________ because ____________.

6. If you asked additional questions or elaborated on any part of your study, insert the phrase in parenthesis: (See Appendix A for a list of all survey/interview/study questions).

7. What did you want to find out by conducting this study?
Start with: By conducting this study, I wanted to find out ____________________.

Example:

I conducted a survey in order to trace the factors that cause Composition students to experience writer's block when writing their papers for Composition class. I surveyed 60 Composition II students at SSC who experience writer's block because these students had written papers in Composition class and had experienced factors preventing them from writing. My participants were chosen based on the criteria that they had written papers for Composition class, and they claimed to experience writer's block on a frequent basis.

In my survey, I asked questions regarding the students' writing habits and fears about writing, in order to trace any similarities that may cause writer's block for these students in their composition classes. These questions were important because they allowed me to study both the circumstances from which these students were being blocked from writing, as well as the assignments that may have caused this anxiety. For example, I asked the question, "What are you worried about before you start writing your composition papers?" because I wanted to see the fears students had in relation to writing. I also asked, "what types of writing assignments do you find most stressful for you?" because I wanted to see if similar assignments caused students to experience writer's block within their composition courses (See Appendix A for a list of all survey questions). By conducting this survey, I wanted to explore the factors contributing to the writer's block experienced by composition students, in order to see if and how these stresses can be potentially addressed.