Methodology & research design: choose and justify the right approach

The methodology chapter answers one question: why should the reader believe your results? Everything else is detail.

Let the question drive the design

Design follows from the research question, not the other way around. To understand experiences and meaning, you need a qualitative design (interviews, observation). To measure magnitude, association or difference, you need a quantitative design (survey, register, experiment). Some questions require both. Choose what actually answers — not what you're most comfortable with.

Justify every choice

Sample, recruitment, instruments and analysis all need justification. Why these participants? Why this number? Why this analysis? An examiner isn't looking for the 'perfect' design — they're looking for a considered one, where you understand the strengths and weaknesses of your own choices.

Write the methodology so another student could repeat the study. Reproducibility isn't bureaucracy — it's the proof that your findings aren't accidental.

Reliability, validity and privacy

Briefly discuss whether your measurements are reliable and whether you actually measure what you think you do (validity). If you handle personal data, privacy belongs here too: consent, anonymisation and, where relevant, a notification form to Sikt. This shows the study is both scientifically and ethically sound.

Common pitfalls

• Choosing a method from habit rather than from the question.
• Describing the procedure without justifying it.
• Forgetting privacy when you collect personal data.

Ready to move on when…

• The design clearly answers the research question.
• Every methodological choice is justified.
• The study is described so it can be reproduced.