Many students are stumped when it comes to methodology versus method. The difference sounds academic, but separating the two will make your writing clearer. You do not want to sound garbled! Here are the differences:
Methodologies are the broad, overarching way to conduct a study. Roughly speaking, all methodologies can be categorized into three areas: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods. These three areas can be further divided into methodologies, such as ethnography or thematic analysis (for qualitative analysis), correlation or descriptive (quantitative), and mixed methods incorporating qualitative and quantitative.
Methods are the tools used to conduct the study: surveys, polls, focus groups, and interviewing, etc.
The methods are the steps that, when put together, support the methodology.
Conducting a case study? A methodology. Observing a group? A method. Can one tell if either a case study or observation is qualitative or quantitative? NO. For example, writing up an observation in words and looking for themes is qualitative; conversely, counting the number of interactions and time of each event would be quantitative.
Dr. David Coker is a prolific author, researcher, and experienced research methodologist. He is the CEO of DissertationPro, which offers comprehensive services to complete your dissertation. Besides teaching K-12 and graduate school, he regularly consults and peer reviews research articles nationally and internationally. He can be reached on LinkedIn as well.
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