Choosing your methodology.
How to choose and justify a research design that fits your question, from qualitative and quantitative to mixed methods, sampling and ethics.
The methodology chapter is where examiners test whether you understand your own research. A strong one does not just describe what you did; it justifies why that design was the right way to answer your question.
01 Start from the question, not the method
Exploratory questions about meaning and experience lean qualitative. Questions about how much, how many or whether X affects Y lean quantitative. Questions that need both often call for a mixed-methods design.
02 The building blocks to justify
- Philosophy and approach: why this stance fits your question
- Design: survey, case study, experiment, ethnography or mixed
- Sampling: who, how many and why they represent your population
- Data collection and analysis: the tools and how you apply them
- Ethics: consent, confidentiality and integrity
03 Rigour is the whole point
Whatever you choose, show validity, reliability or trustworthiness, and be honest about limitations. Examiners reward a well-defended imperfect design over an oversold perfect-sounding one.
04 Qualitative and quantitative, in practice
The choice is not about which is more rigorous — both can be excellent or weak. Qualitative work earns depth: the why behind a behaviour, the meaning people give an experience, the themes a survey would miss. Quantitative work earns breadth and comparison: how widespread, how strong, how reliable across a population. Let the question decide, and if it genuinely has two halves, say so and design for both rather than forcing one to do the other's job.
05 What examiners flag most
- A method chosen because it was familiar, not because it fit the question
- A sample too small or too skewed to support the claims made
- Analysis described but never justified
- Limitations hidden rather than owned
Each of these is easy to fix in the writing and costly to leave in. Anticipate the examiner's question and answer it on the page.
A methodology chapter reads well when it moves in one direction: from the question, to the philosophical stance, to the design, to the specifics of sampling, collection and analysis, to ethics and limitations. Each section should earn the next. Written this way, the chapter does not just record your choices — it argues for them, which is exactly what a strong defence requires.
Independent sources
Every link was checked and live at the time of writing.
NIH · PubMed CentralQualitative Research: Getting StartedNIH · PubMed CentralSelecting an Appropriate Study DesignNIH · PubMed CentralContext, research questions and designsLinks open in a new tab. Manara is not affiliated with these publishers.
Manara Consultancy is a Beirut-based advisory firm helping companies, founders and professionals across Lebanon and the Gulf make the decisions that define them. More at manaraconsultancy.online.