What are the subsections in the method part?
Published on February 5, 2021 by Pritha Bhandari. Revised on September 19, 2022. The methods section of an APA style paper is where you
report in detail how you performed your study. Research papers in the social and natural sciences often follow APA style. This article focuses on reporting quantitative research methods. In your APA methods section, you should report enough information to understand and
replicate your study, including detailed information on the sample, measures, and procedures used. The main heading of “Methods” should be centered, boldfaced,
and capitalized. Subheadings within this section are left-aligned, boldfaced, and in title case. You can also add lower level headings within these subsections, as long as they follow APA heading styles. To structure your methods section, you can use the subheadings of “Participants,” “Materials,” and “Procedures.” These headings are not mandatory—aim to organize your methods section
using subheadings that make sense for your specific study. Note that not all of these topics will necessarily be relevant for your study. For example, if you didn’t need to consider outlier removal or ways of assigning participants to different conditions, you don’t have to report these steps. The APA also provides specific reporting guidelines for different types of research design. These
tell you exactly what you need to report for longitudinal designs, replication studies, experimental designs, and so on. If your study uses a combination design, consult APA guidelines for mixed methods studies. Detailed descriptions of procedures that don’t fit
into your main text can be placed in supplemental materials (for example, the exact instructions and tasks given to participants, the full analytical strategy including software code, or additional figures and tables). Begin the methods section by reporting sample characteristics, sampling procedures, and the sample size. When discussing people who participate in research, descriptive terms
like “participants,” “subjects” and “respondents” can be used. For non-human animal research, “subjects” is more appropriate. Specify all relevant demographic characteristics of your participants. This may include their age, sex, ethnic or racial group, gender identity, education level, and socioeconomic status. Depending on your study topic, other characteristics like educational or immigration status or language preference may also be relevant. Be sure to report these
characteristics as precisely as possible. This helps the reader understand how far your results may be generalized to other people. The APA guidelines emphasize writing about participants using bias-free language, so it’s necessary to use inclusive and appropriate terms. Outline how the participants were selected and all inclusion and exclusion criteria applied.
Appropriately identify the sampling procedure used. For example, you should only label a sample as random if you had access to every member of the relevant population. Of all the people invited to participate in your study, note the percentage that actually did
(if you have this data). Additionally, report whether participants were self-selected, either by themselves or by their institutions (e.g., schools may submit student data for research purposes). Identify any compensation (e.g., course credits or money) that was provided to participants, and mention any institutional review board approvals and ethical standards followed. Example: Reporting sampling proceduresEthics approval was obtained before we began recruiting participants. Current first-generation college students were invited to participate. The study was advertised through general emails sent to university-wide mailing lists, social media posts, and flyers across campus. Participants were self-selected and compensated $10 for their time in the hour-long study.Sample size and powerDetail the sample size (per condition) and statistical power that you hoped to achieve, as well as any analyses you performed to determine these numbers. It’s important to show that your study had enough statistical power to find effects if there were any to be found. Additionally, state whether your final sample differed from the intended sample. Your interpretations of the study outcomes should be based only on your final sample rather than your intended sample. Example: Reporting sample size and powerFor our study to have 80% power to detect an effect of 10%, with a significance level of .05, 30 participants were required in each of the two conditions. The final sample satisfied these requirements.Are your APA in-text citations flawless?The AI-powered APA Citation Checker points out every error, tells you exactly what’s wrong, and explains how to fix it. Say goodbye to losing marks on your assignment! Get started! MaterialsWrite up the tools and techniques that you used to measure relevant variables. Be as thorough as possible for a complete picture of your techniques. Primary and secondary measuresDefine the primary and secondary outcome measures that will help you answer your primary and secondary research questions. Specify all instruments used in gathering these measurements and the construct that they measure. These instruments may include hardware, software, or tests, scales, and inventories.
Make sure to report the settings of (e.g., screen resolution) any specialized apparatus used. For each instrument used, report measures of the following:
Giving an example item or two for tests, questionnaires, and interviews is also helpful. Example: Reporting materialsThe Academic Anxiety Inventory (AAI; Pizzie & Kraemer, 2017) was used to measure academic anxiety in college students. The inventory consists of 50 Likert scale questions with subscales for math, science, and test anxiety. The participants indicated their level of agreement with statements on a 5-point scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” An example item is “I feel anxious when studying for a final.” Cronbach’s alpha was high (above .85) for each subscale, indicating sufficient internal consistency.A general knowledge test appropriate for adults was created using materials from a previous study (see supplementary materials). The test consisted of 20 multiple choice questions with medium difficulty. Describe any covariates—these are any additional variables that may explain or predict the outcomes. Quality of measurementsReview all methods you used to assure the quality of your measurements. These may include:
For data that’s subjectively coded (for example, classifying open-ended responses), report interrater reliability scores. This tells the reader how similarly each response was rated by multiple raters. ProcedureReport all of the procedures applied for administering the study, processing the data, and for planned data analyses. Data collection methods and research designData collection methods refers to the general mode of the instruments: surveys, interviews, observations, focus groups, neuroimaging, cognitive tests, and so on. Summarize exactly how you collected the necessary data. Describe all procedures you applied in administering surveys, tests, physical recordings, or imaging devices, with enough detail so that someone else can replicate your techniques. If your procedures are very complicated and require long descriptions (e.g., in neuroimaging studies), place these details in supplementary materials. To report research design, note your overall framework for data collection and analysis. State whether you used an experimental, quasi-experimental, descriptive (observational), correlational, and/or longitudinal design. Also note whether a between-subjects or a within-subjects design was used. For multi-group studies, report the following design and procedural details as well:
Describe whether any masking was used to hide the condition assignment (e.g., placebo or medication condition) from participants or research administrators. Using masking in a multi-group study ensures internal validity by reducing research bias. Explain how this masking was applied and whether its effectiveness was assessed. Example: Reporting data collection methods and research designAll participants were told that the survey concerned students’ general knowledge and would take a maximum of thirty minutes. After arriving at the laboratory individually, they were assured confidentiality, and they provided informed consent.Participants were randomly assigned to a control or experimental condition. The survey was administered using Qualtrics (https://www.qualtrics.com). To begin, all participants were given the AAI and a demographics questionnaire to complete, followed by an unrelated filler task. In the control condition, participants completed a short general knowledge test immediately after the filler task. In the experimental condition, participants were asked to visualize themselves taking the test for 3 minutes before they actually did. For more details on the exact instructions and tasks given, see supplementary materials. In the between-subjects experimental design, the independent variable was whether the visualization intervention was applied and the dependent variable was the difference in test scores between conditions. Data diagnosticsOutline all steps taken to scrutinize or process the data after collection. This includes the following:
To ensure high validity, you should provide enough detail for your reader to understand how and why you processed or transformed your raw data in these specific ways. Analytic strategiesThe methods section is also where you describe your statistical analysis procedures, but not their outcomes. Their outcomes are reported in the results section. These procedures should be stated for all primary, secondary, and exploratory hypotheses. While primary and secondary hypotheses are based on a theoretical framework or past studies, exploratory hypotheses are guided by the data you’ve just collected. Example: Reporting analytical strategyFirst, we assessed whether there were any baseline differences between the two groups in terms of demographics characteristics or AAI scores. Subsequently, to test our primary hypothesis that the visualization intervention improves test performance, we performed an independent samples t test on test scores.Example of an APA methods sectionThis annotated example reports methods for a descriptive correlational survey on the relationship between religiosity and trust in science in the US. Hover over each part for explanation of what is included. Example of an APA methods section Frequently asked questions about writing an APA methods sectionWhat should I include in an APA methods section? In your APA methods section, you should report detailed information on the participants, materials, and procedures used.
Is this article helpful?You have already voted. Thanks :-) Your vote is saved :-) Processing your vote... What are the 3 subsections that occur in the Method of your paper?The method section should utilize subheadings to divide up different subsections. These subsections typically include participants, materials, design, and procedure.
What is the first subsection in the Method section?The Method section typically consists of three subsections: (1) Participants, (2) Apparatus (or Materials or Apparatus/Materials), and (3) Procedure. You can choose to add other subsections if they can be justified.
What is included in the methods section of an APA paper?The methods section of an APA style paper is where you report in detail how you performed your study.. how participants were assigned to different conditions (e.g., randomization),. instructions given to the participants in each group,. interventions for each group,. the setting and length of each session(s).. What are the 5 parts of methodology?5 Key Elements of Methodology Section of a Research Paper. Logic of Inquiry (Qualitative or Quantitative) ... . Research Setting and participants. ... . Methods and Procedure of Data Collection. ... . Methods and Procedure of Data Analysis. ... . Ethical Issues.. |