Did you know that methodology is not just a fancier word for methods, but that these concepts actually describe different things? Although examiners of bachelor or master theses might not even know the difference or care enough to point it out, I try to make sure that my thesis students know and understand this. So, what’s the difference?
Methods are the practical steps you take in your research, such as collecting data through surveys or measurements, analyzing your data with Geographical Information Systems tools, or doing statistical modelling. It’s more or less the “how” of the research, like a cooking recipe.
Methodology is the overarching justification of the methods that you use, where you need to explain the logic of using approach X compared to approach Y, and how those approaches align with your research questions. For social scientists in particular, methodology can also include your epistemological stance, research paradigms, and/or positionality.
As physical geographers we learn different methods of data collection and analysis, but we rarely discuss methodology, even though we combine both methods and methodology in our texts. It’s however, important to be aware of the difference in meaning and make sure that you use a heading that reflects the content of your chapter. If the section is heavily focused on what you did to get to the results you have but maybe with some reasoning around why you used those particular methods – your chapter should be named methods (or “Data and Methods”, “Materials and Methods”). If you have a chapter that talks about your research design, the rationale for choosing certain methods, assumptions you’ve made and limitations along with the epistemology or research paradigms – then you have yourself a “methodology” chapter. If you can’t decide because you have a little bit of both, “Methods and Methodology” could be a good option.
Some further resources:
Difference between Methodology and Method https://www.cwauthors.com/article/difference-between-methodology-and-method
Aguiar GJ. Distinguishing between Method and Methodology in Academic Research (preprint): https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4857923
