Research Methodologies: An Overview
Seven methodologies, five labelled qualitative and two quantitative, set out in a single table in the supplied teaching source. This is the map of that table and of the two places its edges stop.
What methodology means in this source
The supplied teaching source is unusually clear about the distinction that most proposals blur. Methodology is the strategy; method is the technique. Getting this wrong is the most common terminological error in a research proposal, and it is visible in the first paragraph of a methodology chapter.
The source's own definitions
- Methodology
- The strategy used to carry out the study; the design of the study.
- Methods
- The way in which the data to be used in the study is gathered.
- Method (second table)
- Ways of gathering and analysing data. Associated term: techniques.
- Theoretical perspective
- The philosophical framework informing the methodology.
Note that the source's two glosses of method differ: one confines it to gathering data, the other extends it to gathering and analysing. Both are in the supplied material, and the five basic elements page in this library sets out the full set alongside the other places where the source's tables disagree.
The seven methodologies the source defines
The source presents these in a single table, adapted in the teaching material from a research methods and methodologies text cited at pages 35 to 45. The definitions below are the source's, close-paraphrased; the qualitative and quantitative labels are also the source's own.
THE SEVEN DEFINED METHODOLOGIES
| Methodology | Type | What the source says it is |
|---|---|---|
| Historical | Qualitative | The synthesis of evidence to establish facts and draw conclusions about the past, through considering where the event happened, who was involved, when it occurred and what kind of activity was involved |
| Comparative | Qualitative | Often used with historical research, to compare different societies whether in the past or in parallel in the present |
| Descriptive | Qualitative | Relies on observations as a way of collecting data that are recorded to be subsequently analysed. Depends on human responses and observations. Can be distorted by selective observation and biased interviews |
| Correlation | Quantitative | Describes the statistical measure of association between two phenomena. Studies may be relational or prediction |
| Experimental | Quantitative | Every relevant condition is isolated and controlled in the event investigated, to observe the effects when conditions are manipulated |
| Evaluation | Qualitative | Descriptive research designed to deal with complex social issues. Participants are equal partners in the design, implementation, interpretation and results |
| Action | Qualitative | Research carried out in the real world, designed to deal with a specific problem in a particular situation. There is little or no control over independent variables |
The qualitative and quantitative labels are the source's classification, not a general standard.
How the source splits qualitative and quantitative
Labelled qualitative
- Historical — synthesis of evidence about the past
- Comparative — across societies, past or present
- Descriptive — observation recorded for later analysis
- Evaluation — descriptive research on complex social issues
- Action — real-world, specific problem, little control over variables
Labelled quantitative
- Correlation — statistical association between two phenomena
- Experimental — conditions isolated, controlled and manipulated
- Both are defined in terms of measurement and control
- Both sit closest to what the source calls scientific research
- Neither depends on participant accounts for its evidence
The split is heavier on the qualitative side than a project manager might expect, and that is worth pausing on. The two quantitative entries are the only ones whose definitions turn on measurement and manipulation. Everything else in the table produces evidence in words, records or accounts. If your instinct is that research means numbers, five of these seven will feel unfamiliar. The underlying distinction is worked through in Qualitative and Quantitative Research Compared.
Where methodology sits in the stack
Methodology is a middle layer. It is chosen after you know your question and your philosophical position, and before you choose your instruments. The source's figure makes the ordering explicit: philosophy underneath everything, methodology on top of philosophy, methods on top of methodology.
- Ontology and epistemology
- Theoretical perspective
- Methodology
- Data collection methods
- Data as evidence
The practical consequence is a sequencing rule. If you have already chosen a survey or a set of interviews before you can name your methodology, you have chosen a method and are reverse-engineering a strategy to justify it. That is the most common way a design becomes incoherent, and the layered logic behind the ordering is set out in The Methodological Pyramid.
Two methodology lists that do not line up
The supplied source contains two separate inventories of research methodologies and never reconciles them. The seven-row table above is one. The middle tier of the methodological pyramid is the other, and it carries fourteen labels: survey, case study, experimental design, ethnography, action research, grounded theory, content analysis, discourse analysis, documentary analysis, textual analysis, semiotics, image-based research, archival research and feminist research.
Only two labels correspond across the two lists — experimental with experimental design, and action with action research — and even those are worded differently. Survey and case study, which between them account for most of the research designs in the exemplar volume of master's project management projects, appear only in the figure and are never defined. The full label set is inventoried in The Methodology Catalogue.
Handle this the way you would handle any incomplete specification. Use the seven defined methodologies confidently and cite them to the teaching material. For anything on the pyramid's middle tier, go to the published methods literature for a definition and cite that instead.
How the source says to choose
Working the source's advice
State the question first, in one sentence
The source is explicit that deciding on research methods makes no sense until you have decided on your research questions. If the question is still two questions joined by an and, no methodology can be appropriate to it.
Read the significant papers for their methodology, not their findings
Go back through the literature you have already gathered and record only what each study did: its stated methodology, its data sources, its sample. A short table of a dozen studies will show you the conventions of your field faster than any textbook.
Shortlist against the shape of your question
Questions about the past point at historical and comparative. Questions about association point at correlation. Questions about what is happening now, in words, point at descriptive. Questions about solving a specific problem in a specific setting point at action research.
Test the shortlist against feasibility
Time, ethical constraints, cooperation and cost all sit between an appropriate methodology and a possible one. A methodology you cannot execute inside your timeframe is not a candidate, however well it fits.
Take it to your supervisor before you build instruments
This is the source's own instruction and it is the cheapest step in the process. Instruments built against the wrong methodology are wasted work, and you will not notice until analysis.
The selection decision itself, including what to do when two methodologies both look defensible, is handled in Choosing a Research Methodology.
Where to read the detail
This page is deliberately a map. Each of the four pages below carries the definitions, the failure modes and the worked detail for its group of methodologies.
The four detail pages in this stream
Historical and comparative
The four framing questions — where, who, when and what kind of activity — and the comparative extension across societies in the past or in parallel in the present. See Historical and Comparative Research Methodologies.
Descriptive
Observation recorded for later analysis, its dependence on human responses, and the two distortions the source names. See Descriptive Research Methodology.
Correlation and experimental
Statistical association between two phenomena, relational and prediction studies, and the isolation and control of every relevant condition. See Correlation and Experimental Methodologies.
Evaluation and action
Participants as equal partners in design, implementation, interpretation and results; and research in the real world with little or no control over independent variables. See Evaluation and Action Research Methodologies.
What to carry forward
- Methodology is the strategy and design of the study; method is how data is gathered. Use the words precisely and reviewers will read you as competent.
- Seven methodologies are defined in the supplied source: historical, comparative, descriptive, correlation, experimental, evaluation and action.
- Five carry a qualitative label and two a quantitative one. The labels indicate centre of gravity, not a prohibition on mixing methods.
- Evaluation is defined as a kind of descriptive research, so the descriptive cautions apply to evaluations too.
- The pyramid's fourteen methodology labels are a separate, undefined list. Cite published literature, not the teaching material, for anything on it.
- Choose the methodology after the question and before the instruments. Reversing that order is how designs become incoherent.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a methodology and a method?
In the supplied source, methodology is the strategy used to carry out the study — the design — while method is the way the data to be used in the study is gathered. A second table in the same material extends method to gathering and analysing data. Methodology answers what kind of study this is; method answers what you will actually do to collect evidence.
How many research methodologies does the source define?
Seven: historical, comparative, descriptive, correlation, experimental, evaluation and action. It names three more — ethnogeny, feminist and cultural — without defining them, and its pyramid figure lists a further fourteen methodology labels with no definitions attached.
Which methodologies does the source call quantitative?
Only two of the seven: correlation, which describes the statistical measure of association between two phenomena, and experimental, in which every relevant condition is isolated and controlled so that effects can be observed when conditions are manipulated. The other five carry a qualitative label.
Why are survey and case study not in the table?
They appear only in the middle tier of the methodological pyramid, which lists fourteen methodology labels without defining any of them. This is a limitation of the supplied material rather than a judgement about those designs — both are common in published project management research, so define them from the published methods literature and cite that.
Can I combine two methodologies?
The source pairs comparative with historical explicitly, and notes that in practical research it is usually essential to use several types of research method even if one or two take up the bulk of the time. What it does not offer is guidance on combining methodologies, so if you intend to, justify the combination against your research question and your philosophical position rather than against the table.
Do I choose the methodology before or after the research question?
After. The source states that deciding on research methods makes no sense until you have decided on your research questions, and its figure places methodology above philosophy and below method. Choosing instruments first and fitting a methodology around them afterwards is the most common route to an incoherent design.
References and source attribution
- Clarke, R. J. 2005, Research methods and methodologies, pp. 35–45 (the work the supplied source adapts its methodologies table from).
- Quinlan, C. 2011, Business Research Methods, 1st ed., Cengage Publishing. (Chapter 1, p. 50 — the methodological pyramid.)
- Bryman, A. 2016, Social Research Methods, 5th ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- O'Leary, Z. 2017, The Essential Guide to Doing Your Research Project, 3rd ed., Sage Publications, London.
- The supplied teaching source: Week 2 study notes and slide deck on introduction to research methods, including the research methodologies table and the methodological pyramid figure.
Suggested questions for Ask KEVOS
- Which of the seven methodologies fits a question about why a process was abandoned?
- What is the difference between the source's methodology table and the pyramid's methodology tier?
- Is survey a methodology or a method in this source?
- How do I justify choosing action research over descriptive research?
- Which methodologies does the source label quantitative, and why only those two?
- How do I turn a shortlist of methodologies into a defensible choice?