How to Write the Methods Section for a Research Paper

Summarize how your experiment was performed in your report's Methods section.

The Methods section of a research project, which may also be called "Methods and Materials," describes how your research project was carried out. Your narrative may use the active voice to some extent, but typically you'll want to avoid frequent references to yourself. So third-person, passive sentences may be a better alternative. Write in the past tense. For field studies, state the place and date the experiment took place.

Instructions

1. Use an Instruments or Apparatus subheading to describe any materials or devices used in the research. Instruments can be anything from a questionnaire to a visual stimulus to a software program. Published instruments should be properly cited and include reliability or validity information if available.

2. Include a Subjects or Participants subheading. What word your choose will depend on what is typical and appropriate for your field of study. This section should include the number of human participants, how many were assigned to each group and how they were assigned. If demographic characteristics of the sample might be a factor in the results, include these as well.

3. Add a Procedures subheading. This section should walk the reader through every step or your research process. A narrative format describing how your participants were treated and everything they were asked to complete often works the best for this section. Explain how all the data were analyzed. After reading this section, any reader should be able to exactly replicate your research or experiment.

4. Revise and rewrite the section until any reasonably intelligent person can understand it and replicate it. Have another researcher or student read your paper. Ask her to write down any questions she has about how the research was conducted and note any confusion she may have.

Tips & Warnings

• You may include information on instruments as part of the Procedures subheading.

• The Participants or Subjects subheading should also note how the participants were enlisted, whether any participants dropped out of the study early or if any were not included for other reasons.

• Make sure to describe in detail how the participants were treated differently in each condition (if differing conditions existed).

• Be sure to put a copy of any questionnaires or other materials used in your appendix.

References

• The Structure, Format, Content, andBates College Department of Biology: Style of a Journal-Style Scientific Paper