Writing the Methodology · Lesson 9 — Practice Exam

Because it is usually the easiest section to translate into other languages.

Because a sound methodology leads readers to expect that the results will also be credible (Swales & Feak, 2012).

Because the Methods section is always the longest part of an academic paper.

Because the Methods section lists all the references cited in the paper.

"Methods" refers to the tools and procedures of data collection and analysis, while "methodology" refers to the underlying plan and its rationale.

"Methods" is the British spelling and "methodology" is the American spelling.

"Methods" is used only in qualitative research, while "methodology" is used only in quantitative research.

"Methods" appears only in theses, while "methodology" appears only in journal articles.

A reference to a published study that supports the design.

A stretch of text that performs one communicative function.

A transition between paragraphs in the Discussion section.

A grammatical structure such as the passive voice or past tense.

Overview, Procedure, Aims/questions, Participants & materials, Location, Limitations, Data analysis.

Aims/questions, Overview, Participants & materials, Location, Procedure, Data analysis, Limitations.

Overview, Aims/questions, Participants & materials, Location, Procedure, Limitations, Data analysis.

Data analysis, Limitations, Procedure, Location, Participants & materials, Aims/questions, Overview.

must always appear in the same fixed order in every discipline.

do not always appear in this order, and not every field uses all seven.

must be seven distinct subsections, each with a separate heading.

are only used by writers in Applied Linguistics.

Present tense for both the procedure and the roadmap.

Past tense for what was done (e.g., "was used"); present tense for the roadmap (e.g., "This section describes").

Future tense for both the procedure and the roadmap.

Past tense for the roadmap and present tense for the procedure.

Move 1 – Overview.

Move 2 – Aims / questions.

Move 5 – Procedure.

Move 7 – Data analysis.

A 25-item Likert-scale questionnaire used to collect data from students.

An interview protocol used by the researcher during semi-structured interviews.

Eight speaking tasks designed from Units 1–4 of the course book and used by participants during the intervention.

An observation checklist completed by the researcher during classroom visits.

Because journal editors always reject papers that name institutions.

To protect participant anonymity and confidentiality as part of ethical practice.

Because naming the site would make the paper too long.

Because all universities in Vietnam have the same characteristics.

Move 3 – Participants & materials, present tense.

Move 5 – Procedure, past tense mostly passive.

Move 6 – Limitations, past tense.

Move 7 – Data analysis, active voice.

Due to many limitations, this study may not be reliable.

Although convenience sampling limits generalisability, it allowed access to classrooms that would otherwise have been unavailable.

There are no limitations to this study.

Limitations will be discussed later.

A paired-samples t-test with Cohen's d.

Thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke (2006), with a second coder checking 20% of the data.

An ANOVA with effect sizes on Likert-scale data.

Descriptive statistics reported in SPSS.

Purposeful sampling and recruitment procedures.

Researcher's role and positionality.

Statistical analysis steps and significance level.

Coding approach (inductive or deductive).

Report effect sizes such as Cohen's d.

State the qualitative design and its rationale, describe purposeful sampling, discuss the researcher's role, and report validity/trustworthiness strategies.

Include only descriptive statistics and omit any coding framework.

Avoid any mention of the researcher's positionality.

A literature review chapter before the Methods.

An explicit integration statement and a joint display showing how quantitative and qualitative data are combined.

A pilot study with at least 50 participants.

A refusal to name any research design.

the methods are completely standard and uncontroversial in the field.

the audience is multidisciplinary, the methods are new or controversial, or the paper is mainly about the method.

the journal has a strict word limit for the Methods section.

the study uses only a single-method quantitative design.

Molecular Biology.

Chemistry.

Education and Applied Linguistics.

Mathematics.

Provide background (defining terms or giving examples).

Justify with a purpose clause (e.g., "To reduce researcher bias, …").

Show thinking by using cognitive or volitional verbs ("we wanted to").

Link steps with time and cause phrases.

Past tense passive, because it describes what was done in the study.

Present simple, because it states what is generally true about a method.

Future tense, because methods may evolve over time.

Present continuous, because it shows an ongoing process.

Section 3.4 describes the data analysis procedure.

Consent was obtained from all participants before data collection.

We decided to interview teachers individually to avoid peer pressure.

Interviews were conducted and transcribed.