Writing a Method Section

Lab 1. Introduction to Research Design

⬡⬢⬡⬢⬡⬢

Dave Brocker
Farmingdale State College

Getting Started

Spin Up Your Environment

  • Open Posit Cloud and launch this week’s Lab Template project (the one from Lab 0)

  • Every lab starts the same way – load your packages before you touch any data

  • Type (or paste) the line below into your console and run it. No output means it worked; an error means read it before moving on

Code 
library(tidyverse)

Method Section

Objective

There are three objectives accomplished in the Method Section:

  • Transparency

    • Allows replication of the study.

  • Organization

    • Structured approach to presenting details.

  • Credibility

    • Demonstrates rigor and validity.

Components of the Method Section

Participants

  • Number of participants.
  • Demographics (age, gender, other relevant factors).
  • Recruitment method.

Components of the Method Section

Materials

  • Instruments (e.g., scales, questionnaires).
  • Description and citation of tools used.

Components of the Method Section

Procedure

  • Step-by-step explanation of what participants did.
  • Timeline of events.
  • Ethical considerations (e.g., informed consent, debriefing).

Components of the Method Section

Design

  • Specify research design (e.g., experimental, correlational).
  • Variables (Independent Variables, Dependent Variables, and control).

Example Review

Writing Exercise

You are conducting a study to explore how exposure to morbidly curious stimuli (e.g., unpleasant smells, sights, or sounds) influences people’s emotional reactions and decision-making. The research focuses on visual stimuli (e.g., unsettling images) and their impact on self-reported curiosity and arousal levels.

  • The study uses two groups:
    • Participants who view neutral images (e.g., landscapes).
    • Participants who view morbidly curious images (e.g., depictions of natural disasters or abandoned locations).

Writing Exercise

After viewing the images, participants rate their curiosity and emotional arousal using a validated 5-point Likert scale.

  • Participants
    • Who would participate and how they are selected.
  • Materials
    • Instruments or tools used for the study.
  • Procedure
    • Describe how the study will be conducted.
  • Design
    • Outline the study design and variables.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Overgeneralization or lack of specificity.
  • Omitting key details (e.g., sample size or instrument reliability).
  • Failing to justify design choices.
    • Why this sample?
    • Why these stimuli?
    • Why this design over another?
  • Forgetting to mention IRB approval or informed consent.
  • Using vague descriptions of measures (“a survey”) instead of naming/citing validated instruments.

Method Section Example

The Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Participants

Some people were in the study. They were college students, I think. Not sure how many, but it was enough.

Materials

We used some pictures and stuff that were kind of gross and some others that weren’t. Also, we had a survey thing but it was just a basic questionnaire.

Procedure

First, participants came to the lab. Then they looked at the pictures. After that, they filled out the survey. It didn’t take too long. They got credit or something.

Design

It was kind of like an experiment but also not really. We compared the groups who saw the different pictures.

Writing Exercise

Sample Section

Participants

One hundred twenty undergraduate students (Mage = 20.4, 65% female) were recruited through the university participant pool.

Materials

Stimuli included 20 images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS; Lang et al., 2008). Participants rated each image on a 5-point curiosity scale.

Procedure

After providing informed consent, participants were randomly assigned to view either 20 neutral or 20 morbidly curious images, presented in a fixed random order on a computer. Following each image, participants rated their curiosity and emotional arousal using the 5-point scales described above. The session lasted approximately 15 minutes, after which participants were debriefed and awarded course credit.

Design

This was a between-subjects design with image type (neutral vs. morbidly curious) as the independent variable and self-reported curiosity and arousal ratings as the dependent variables.