Materials and Methods PDF

Materials and Methods Dr: Sababil Salih 1  Objectives 2  By the end of this lecture you will be able to: 🞑 Articulate what the method section of a research 🞑 State what goes in that section 🞑 State the components of a procedure s...

Materials and Methods Dr: Sababil Salih 1  Objectives 2  By the end of this lecture you will be able to: 🞑 Articulate what the method section of a research 🞑 State what goes in that section 🞑 State the components of a procedure section 🞑 Draft a procedure section for your work 2  Methodology Section The methods section is the most important part of a research paper. It provides a clear description of : 1. how the research was done. 2. what was done to answer the research question 3. how the results were analyzed. 3  Methodology Section It must be written with enough information so that: (1) others could repeat the research to evaluate whether the results are reproducible (1)the audience can judge whether the results and conclusions are valid. 4  Methodology Section It is typically divided into three subsections: Participants Materials Procedure 5  Method section 7  The method section contains several sections 🞑 Participants Who was in the study 🞑 Procedure What happened in the study 🞑 Measures/Materials What measures were used—like surveys Or what materials—like special lab equipments 🞑 Analysis section Describes the statistical analysis 6  Methodology: Participants Example  Information on participants includes: Method 🞑 Number of participants. Participants 🞑 Procedures for selecting participants or the sampling method (random, 20 male and 20 female opportunistic etc.). participants from Birmingham City 🞑 Demographic information (age, University participated gender, occupation, educational in the current study. No level). other demographic information was 🞑 If some participants did not collected. complete the experiment, state how many and why they did not continue 7  Methodology: Materials  Describe materials used and their function in enough detail so others can replicate  For example: in describing word lists, include the number of words, approximate length of words, whether they are in capital or lowercase letters, etc.  A copy of the materials can be included in an appendix at the end of the paper; you would refer your reader to that appendix; (see Appendix for a complete list of the words used in this experiment). 8 Methodology: Procedure  The procedure is like the instructions for baking a cake or making something from Lego.  It describes exactly what was done in the study and the order in which things were done.  Describe the instructions given to participants  The procedure should be logical, and contain sufficient information for the reader to follow. 9 Materials and Methods 1. It needs to provide sufficient detail to allow a reader to envision what was done and to repeat the procedures if needed. 2. The difference between trivial and critical details may depend on the goals of the study. 3. Sub-sections (indicated by subtitles) may be useful for organization (e.g., field sampling and lab procedures, etc.). 10  Materials and Methods Some rules: 1. Always use the past tense. 2. Be organized: subheadings can help the reader, especially if the paper has discrete parts such as lab and field work, data and models, etc. 3. Subheadings should differ in font and position from major headings. 11  Materials and Methods Some rules: 4. The reader should be able to see, in his or her mind’s eye, the activity, and should be able to recreate what was done.  This allows readers to decide whether or not what we did was legitimate, and allows them to replicate the study or experiment as much as possible.  If a reader could not understand what you did and could not replicate it, there is insufficient detail. 5. How much detail is too much? It depends on the nature of the study.  What is trivial for one study may be essential for another. Date and time, place, type of net, boat, etc., can all be important or not. 12 Thank you 13