Writing The Methods Section For Your Research Paper (Proven Framework)

Prof. David Stuckler shares a proven framework to write the methods section clearly and efficiently for any research paper.

Key Takeaways

Write the methods section early and integrate it into your research workflow.
Keep the methods section linear and easy to follow to ensure reproducibility.
Clearly define the study type and justify your methodological choices.
Explain the data collection process in detail tailored to your study design.
Describe the analysis tools and techniques used on your data.

What the video covers

The methods section should be the easiest and most straightforward to write but often students get stuck here.
Prof. Stuckler introduces two key writing principles that apply beyond the methods section.
He recommends writing the methods section as you complete your research to keep details fresh.
The first principle is to start writing the methods section before other sections like the introduction.
The second principle is to keep the methods section linear, like a recipe others can follow for reproducibility.
The methods section should clearly state the type of study and justify the choice of methods.
It should describe the data generation process, whether from experiments, surveys, interviews, or literature reviews.
The analysis methods and tools used to interrogate the data must be explained clearly.
Citing established methodologies supports credibility and situates the work within the field.
The video offers a complete guide framework applicable to quantitative, qualitative, systematic reviews, and thesis chapters.

Chapters

Why should I write the methods section before the introduction?

Writing the methods section first helps capture details while they are fresh and creates a natural flow in your research writing. It also makes the section easier and faster to write.

What does it mean to keep the methods section linear?

Keeping the methods section linear means writing it like a recipe that others can follow step-by-step, ensuring clarity and reproducibility of your research process.

How detailed should the data generation process be in the methods section?

You should clearly explain how you collected your data, whether through experiments, surveys, interviews, or literature reviews, including specifics like participant selection and data sources.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

Methods. This is the section that should be the easiest and most straightforward to write. Yet, if you're here, possibly like many other students, this is where you got hung up and stuck. So, by the end of this video, I'm going to share with you our guide and our framework that makes writing the method so easy and simple. You'll think this was the fastest section to put together. Why didn't I just start here? So, what I'm going to share with you today are two important writing principles that are going to go

Speaker A

beyond the method section that you're going to want to use across the board I'm going to as after all it's YouTube share with you a secret tip that's another tactic that's going to help you publish and we're going to go through a complete guide framework of every ingredient that you're going to need for your method section no matter what type of methods you're writing whether it's a chapter for your thesis if it's for a systematic review a quantitative or qualitative paper it's going to be the

Speaker A

beyond the method section that you're going to want to use across the board. I'm going to, as after all it's YouTube, share with you a secret tip, that's another tactic that's going to help you publish, and we're going to go through a complete guide framework of every ingredient that you're going to need for your method section no matter what type of methods you're writing. Whether it's a chapter for your thesis, if it's for a systematic review, a quantitative or qualitative paper, it's going to be the

Speaker A

system to help them so today you're going to get a little bit of sampler of this and if you're interested in more click the link below for a free call with somebody from our team and we can figure out how we can in a personalized way use this system to help you finish your research fast so diving in methods so first principle this is where you start now this might be counter to a lot of what you're told before where maybe you go away WR the introduction then

Speaker A

same framework, the same core guiding principles, and this all comes from our FastTrack system. Hey, if you're new here to this channel, I'm Professor David Stuckler, and I've helped hundreds of students publish in high impact journals, students who had no research experience at all or maybe failed many times before and just weren't able to crack the code, often not because they weren't capable but because they just didn't have the right support and guidance and a proven

Speaker A

world knows that process better than you because you've just done it so I recommend writing the methods kind of just as you've completed them as well if you think about the timing in the process and the flow um that's because it's fresh right if you come back and you try to write your methods two years down the road you might not remember the ins and outs of what you did and so it becomes very natural to integrate writing into your research flow when you write the methods just as you've done it

Speaker A

system to help them. So today, you're going to get a little bit of sampler of this, and if you're interested in more, click the link below for a free call with somebody from our team, and we can figure out how we can in a personalized way use this system to help you finish your research fast. So, diving in methods. So, first principle, this is where you start. Now, this might be counter to a lot of what you're told before where maybe you go away WR the introduction then

Speaker A

Science and to make that accessible is going to make it more robust easier to get accepted easier for your viewers to understand you want to write in a linear way just outlining for people the process that you followed so what does this mean sometimes I see method sections from students and they started with their analysis but they haven't described their data and so if you look at your method section or others you'll see that it can be hard to follow if you're kind

Speaker A

maybe you get to the methods. No, methods is really your first point of departure for writing, and for many students who have been stuck, it's because they sometimes don't know what they want to say or they don't know how to say it. But the thing with the methods is, well, you know what you're doing, you know what concretely you're studying and how you're going about it. So, in a way, it's more natural and more easy to write up because you're describing what you did, what process you took, and nobody in the

Speaker A

a quantitative analysis of different flavors or kinds or qualitative analysis so you need to locate what type of study you did right up front and that's usually straightforward it could be a line two lines not more sometimes you want to justify that choice of method and that may be something that can sometimes come earlier in the introduction this will depend on how you're planning to set things up but I recommend to go ahead already now on your methods and justify why you chose

Speaker A

world knows that process better than you because you've just done it. So, I recommend writing the methods kind of just as you've completed them as well. If you think about the timing in the process and the flow, um, that's because it's fresh, right? If you come back and you try to write your methods two years down the road, you might not remember the ins and outs of what you did, and so it becomes very natural to integrate writing into your research flow when you write the methods just as you've done it.

Speaker A

you have data that you're looking at in a literature review your data are the studies in others if you did a survey you need to explain the Dynamics and the mechanics of that survey what questions did you ask who did you ask and so you want this to again follow a very a flow taking qualitative research as an example your data comes from interviews so you want to explain well how did you invite people to interview what process did you use to identify them what uh

Speaker A

The second principle for writing the methods is that you want to keep things linear. So, imagine your methods as writing a recipe that somebody else can follow, and indeed this recipe making is part of what sets us apart as scientists is that we do things that are replicable so that other people can look at our data, look at what we did, check our assumptions, question us, interrogate our data, and see if they come up with the same conclusions as we did. That reproducibility is at the heart of

Speaker A

whichever type of research you're doing if it's an experiment right here you're going to be explaining the the methods that that you use for collecting data for qualitative or quantitative how you got that data and quantitative might be already existing data you might put a link and show where that database was or explain what data sets you linked third component now that you've got your data is the analysis so what tools did you use to interrogate the data against your

Speaker A

science, and to make that accessible is going to make it more robust, easier to get accepted, easier for your viewers to understand. You want to write in a linear way just outlining for people the process that you followed. So, what does this mean? Sometimes I see method sections from students and they started with their analysis but they haven't described their data, and so if you look at your method section or others, you'll see that it can be hard to follow if you're kind of zigzagging, jumping around from one point in the process to another. So, the basic principle here is that I want you to follow a linear timeline for logically in your writing. Okay, let's turn to the four components that you're going to need to have, and these often flow quite nicely. First thing that you want to drop in the method section is a type of study. What method did you use effectively? And so, there could be, was it an experiment? What kind of experiment was it? Was it a systematic review? Was it

Speaker A

because again here you want to not reinvent the wheel completely often in science we're making incremental improvements using that cliche of standing on the shoulders of giants to just look far and go one step further so try to establish that everything's on a solid foundation it's going to make you seem more credible and more believable so that everything is solid and people will agree with the contribution that you're making finally the the fourth component after you got the analysis

Speaker A

a quantitative analysis of different flavors or kinds or qualitative analysis? So, you need to locate what type of study you did right up front, and that's usually straightforward. It could be a line, two lines, not more. Sometimes you want to justify that choice of method, and that may be something that can sometimes come earlier in the introduction. This will depend on how you're planning to set things up, but I recommend to go ahead already now on your methods and justify why you chose

Speaker A

imagine if somebody were trying to repeat what you did it would just be a stepbystep guide just explaining what you've done my final tip and principle here on the method section that will really help demystify it and give you a concrete vision of what you're trying to achieve is something we do with all of your students is to find what we call a nearest neighbor paper so go out there and find that paper you wish you would have written in your field a paper that's very close to yours and follows

Speaker A

that method. That may move later on, be aware of that, but it's good to already put it there. Now, usually having some citations to others saying following the methodology of so and so, we did this method, that can also be really nice to corroborate and support that you're using the method that's right at the frontier of your field. Second major ingredient you need to explain is what we call the data generating process. How did you get your data? And even in a literature review, in everything you do,

Speaker A

using our systems you're optimizing your chance that your paper is going to get in a high impact Journal I want you to still fault make sure that you write your methods in a linear way even if you're nearest to name paper doesn't so guys if you these tips start with your methods write it in linear make sure it includes all these components the type of study your data generating process the analytical approach and his justification and the ethics funding or any approvals involved you're going to

Speaker A

you have data that you're looking at. In a literature review, your data are the studies in others. If you did a survey, you need to explain the dynamics and the mechanics of that survey. What questions did you ask? Who did you ask? And so, you want this to again follow a very flow. Taking qualitative research as an example, your data comes from interviews, so you want to explain, well, how did you invite people to interview? What process did you use to identify them? What

Topics:research methodswriting methods sectionresearch paper writingscientific writingmethodology frameworkquantitative researchqualitative researchsystematic reviewacademic publishingresearch workflow

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