In writing your dissertation, it is not enough to conduct your research and write your dissertation. There are other important pieces of dissertation methodology that you must take note of.

Let's begin.

First of all, you must know that your readers are not going to swallow your research and make it the new reference material if they do not appreciate its reliability and validity.

In other words, your research methods must be clear to them and meet the standards expected of it.

In other for your work to be perceived as reliable and valid, you must include the following in your report:

What research type used

Your method of data collection

Processes of your data analysis

Tools and materials you used in your work

Reasons why you chose these methods

You're expected to write your dissertation methodology section in the past tense. This is because it is expected that you're reporting what you did and how you did it.

So how do you write your dissertation methodology to give your research the credibility it deserves?

Read on!

What general approach did you take in your research?

Your must ask this question before you begin.

What research problem did you base your investigation on? Did you aim at describing the characteristics of something or exploring and finding data for a less researched topic? What type of data did you use for this purpose and why did you choose it?

These are questions you must answer in your dissertation.

What are your data collection methods?

Of utmost importance is your data collection method. You need to make this clear to make your dissertation reliable. You must also give full details of this process.

If for instance, you used:

Quantitative methods, you must describe your method in a clear manner so that any researcher who wishes to replicate your study can do so with ease. This is especially applicable in valid generalizable results.

Surveys, you must describe the locations and methods and period you took the survey.

Experiments, explain in detail, the tools, techniques and procedures you took in carrying out the experiment.

How did you analyze your work?

This is a relevant question that you must answer. Your dissertation methodology section cannot be complete if you do not include the relevant details.

Your data processing and analysis is what you need to explain here. You however, do not need to give full detail about it. This is because at this stage, it is too early to start discussing your results.

Give reasons for your methodological choices

There must be specific reasons why you chose the particular methodology you used in your research. Explain the reasons and tell why other methods were not suitable enough to achieve your aim. Show how your chosen method brings to light more findings and understanding.

There could be limitations on the method you chose. Acknowledge them and then justify it by telling how its positives outweigh its weaknesses.