The following blog is for Master’s or doctoral level students writing research dissertations in the psychological therapies fields. The pointers are only recommendations—different trainers, supervisors, and examiners may see things very differently.
What should go into the Methods chapter of a thesis, and how much should you write in each area? The headings, below, describe the typical sections, content areas, and approximate length . The suggested word lengths are in the context of a 25,000-30,000 word thesis, and may be a bit more expanded for a longer dissertation (and obviously more condensed for a shorter one).
Epistemology
(Approx. 2,000-3,000 words).
This is often a requirement of Master’s or doctoral level theses, and is a key place in which you can demonstrate the depth and complexity of your understanding. This may be a separate chapter on its own, or placed somewhere else in the thesis.
Critical discussion of epistemology adopted (e.g., realist, social constructionist)
Links to actual method used
Consideration/rejection of alternative epistemologies.
Design
(Approx. 50-500 words).
Formal/technical statement of the design: e.g., ‘this is a thematic analysis study drawing on semi-structured interviews, based in a critical realist epistemology’
Any critical/controversial/unusual design issues that need discussing/justifying.
Participants
(Approx. 500 words).
Site of recruitment: Where they came from/context
Eligibility criteria: inclusion and exclusion
Demographics (a table here is generally a good idea: can by one participant per row if small N, or one variable per row if large N)
Gender
Age (range/mean)
Ethnicity
Disability
Socioeconomic status/level of education
Professional background/experience: training, years of practice, type of employment, orientation
Participant flow chart/description of numbers through recruitment: e.g., numbers contacted, number screened, numbers consented/didn’t consent (and reasons). Also organisations contacted, recruited, etc.
Measures/Tools
(Approx. 500 words).
Interview schedule
Nature of interviews: e.g., structured/semi-structured? How many questions?
Give key questions
Prompts?
(Full schedule can go in appendix)
Measures (including any demographics questionnaire): a paragraph or two on each
Brief description
Background
What it is intended to measure
Example item(s)
Psychometrics:
reliability (esp. internal reliability, test/retest)
validity (esp. convergent validity)
Procedure
(Approx. 500-1000 words).
What was the participants’ journey through the study: e.g., recruitment, screening, information about the study, consent, interview (how long?), debrief, follow up
Nature of any intervention: type of intervention (including manualisation, adherence, etc), practitioners…
Ethics
(Approx. 500 words).
Statement/description of formal ethical approval
Key ethical issues that arose and how they were dealt with
Analysis
(Approx. 1,000-2,000 words).
What method used
Critical description of method (with contemporary references)
Rationale for adopting method
Consideration/rejection of alternative methods
Stages of method as actually conducted (including auditing/review stages)
Reflexive statement
(Approx. 250 words).
Remember that the point of your reflexive statement here is not to give a short run-down of your life. It’s about disclosing any biases or assumptions you might have regarding your research question. We will all have biases, and by being open about them you can be transparent in your thesis and all the reader, themselves, to judge whether your results might be skewed in any way.
What’s your position in relation to this study?
What might your biases/assumptions be?