Materials/Method Assignment Need by Sunday afternoon
weekend123
MethodSection.pptxMaterials and Methods
Need to provide sufficient detail to allow a reader to envision what was done and to repeat the procedures if needed.
The difference between trivial and critical details may depend on the goals of the study.
Sub-sections (indicated by subtitles) may be useful for organization (e.g., field sampling and lab procedures, etc.).
Materials and Methods
Some rules:
Always use the past tense.
Materials and Methods
Some rules:
Always use the past tense.
Be organized: subheadings can help the reader, especially if the paper has discrete parts such as lab and field work, data and models, etc.
Materials and Methods
Some rules:
Always use the past tense.
Be organized: subheadings can help the reader, especially if the paper has discrete parts such as lab and field work, data and models, etc.
Subheadings should differ in font and position from major headings.
Materials and Methods
Some rules:
Always use the past tense.
Be organized: subheadings can help the reader, especially if the paper has discrete parts such as lab and field work, data and models, etc.
Subheadings should differ in font and position from major headings.
The reader should be able to see, in his or her mind’s eye, the activity, and should be able to recreate what was done. This allows readers to decide whether or not what we did was legitimate, and allows them to replicate the study or experiment as much as possible. If a reader could not understand what you did and could not replicate it, there is insufficient detail.
Materials and Methods
Some rules:
Always use the past tense.
Be organized: subheadings can help the reader, especially if the paper has discrete parts such as lab and field work, data and models, etc.
Subheadings should differ in font and position from major headings.
The reader should be able to see, in his or her mind’s eye, the activity, and should be able to recreate what was done. This allows readers to decide whether or not what we did was legitimate, and allows them to replicate the study or experiment as much as possible. If a reader could not understand what you did and could not replicate it, there is insufficient detail.
How much detail is too much? It depends on the nature of the study. What is trivial for one study may be essential for another. Date and time, place, type of net, boat, etc., can all be important or not.
Maps, diagrams (e.g., of a net or other piece of gear), and other figures can help describe the methods.
A map or chart might show not only the location of the lake, for example, but also the sampling sites. Often maps need multiple panels to show the location at different spatial scales.
A diagram of an apparatus such as a Y-maze for evaluating behavioral choices can be very informative and save space compared to text.
A diagram can often be improved by the addition of a line drawing, e.g., of the organism or something similar.
What is a Method Section?
It is the part of the proposal or research paper that describes the methods used to collect the data
It follows the introduction
It allows the reader to understand how the data were collected, and to judge for herself if she thinks the methods were good
It should be detailed enough for a good researcher to be able to replicate the study from reading the method section
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What is the Method section?
The method section contains several sections
Participants
Who was in the study
Procedure
What happened in the study
Measures/Materials
What measures were used—like surveys
Or what materials—like special lab equipement
Analysis section-not covered in these tutorials
Describes the statistical analysis
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Method Section-Procedure
This tutorial shows demonstrates the procedure section
Other tutorials cover the participants and measures sections
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Procedure
Tells the reader how the data were collected
Clearly shows the order in which things occurred
States how the sample was recruited
Notes who collected the data
States clearly all processes or activities participants engaged in
Says what happened in the study
Notes where all the activities took place
May include other important details
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How the sample was recruited
The participants section described what type of sample was used
E.g. a convenience sample or simple random sample
The procedures section describes how the sample was actually recruited or contacted
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How the sample was recruited
How were they identified?
Where were they recruited?
What method, exactly, was used to recruit them?
For example, with fliers in local grocery stores asking interested volunteers to make contact by phone or email?
Using random digit dialing from a list of phone numbers from an entire zipcode?
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How the sample was recruited-example
Convenience sample:
The sample was recruited by posting fliers in five community centers that housed after-school programs for elementary school children. Fliers asked single parents of school aged children interested in a study of learning to contact the researcher if they wanted their children to participate in a brief study of learning styles.
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How the sample was recruited-Example-Notes
The exact number of community centers was noted
The fact that the community centers served a specific population was described
Who the flier was targeted at was described
Single parents of school aged children
The wording of the flier was described
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How the sample was recruited-Example 2
For a stratified random sample drawn from a university student population
All currently enrolled students were identified and women and men were divided into separate groupings. Women were assigned a number from 1 to 5,390 and men assigned a number from 1 to 6040 (there were 5,390 and 6040 women and men on the rolls respectively). Research assistants drew numbers with a computerized random digit program, and contacted women and men and asked them if they would be willing to join the study, until by sampling with replacement, 400 women and 400 men had agreed to be in the study.
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How the sample was recruited-Example 2-Notes
This is for a stratified random sample
The strata—male and female are described
The method of random sampling—using a computerized random digit generator is described
Who contacts them (a research assistant) is noted
How contact is made (by phone) is noted
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Who collected the data Things to consider:
Did others collect data, such as teachers, or parents?
Did others collect data, like research assistants?
Did people who collected data have special training or education?
Did they have notable characteristics—that is, was it important that a person who collected the data was male or female or of a certain age, race or ethnicity?
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Who collected data-Examples
Here is an example:
Licensed clinical social workers conducted all interviews. Social workers and participants were matched by gender, race, and ethnicity, such that Hispanic American men were interviewed by Hispanic American men, African American women were interviewed by African American women, and so on. Trained research assistants collected follow up survey data by phone.
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Who collected data-Example-2
Here is an example:
Undergraduate research assistants collected all survey data in pairs of two research assistants each time.
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Who collected data-Notes on the examples
Note that in example one, two types of people collected data—social workers and research assistants.
Note that in example one, the gender, race, and ethnicity characteristics of the social workers is mentioned, but not the research assistants.
Note also that this is not mentioned at all in example two.
This is because in one case the researcher believes it is important, and in the other cases the researcher did not believe it was important.
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Where did activities take place
Was data collected at a school?
Did interviews happen at home, or at a place of the participants choosing?
Was the place where data was collected private—so that a participant could feel secure in discussing confidential information?
Was data collected in a lab, at a university or other institution?
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Where did activities take place-Example
Here are two examples
Interviews took place at participants’ homes, or if they preferred, at an alternate location of their choice, such as a coffee shop or public library.
Data were collected at schools, daycare centers and afterschool programs in a metropolitan area.
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What processes or activities participants engaged in
How was consent obtained?
Were participants interviewed or surveyed?
Individually or in groups? In person or by phone?
Was there a treatment or therapy?
Were materials read aloud, or did participants read to themselves?
Did they take a test or view a film or slides?
Were data collected from participants more than one time?
How long did activities take?
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Processes and activities-Example
For a group experiment, this example also includes who and where information.
Data were collected from four groups of participants separately, one time for each group. Participants were seated in a college classroom. Prior to the start of the procedure they received the informed consent document, had an opportunity to read it and ask questions, and submitted their signed consent to a research assistant.
Participants were first surveyed about their basic demographics, stressful life experiences, and recent anxious symptoms. Then they were shown 4 films each. Experimental condition participants were shown four segments of “scary” films, and control participants were shown four segments of “neutral” films. These activities altogether took approximately 1 hour.
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Processes and activities-Example Notes
Shows data were collected in groups
Tells where data were collected
How the informed consent occurred
Describes generally the order in which things happened
Describes that a survey was distributed
Describes that participants were shown films
Notes about how long the process took
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Other important details
Were data video or audio recorded?
Did data collection happen at a certain time of day or year?
Did participants receive an incentive?
Money
Course credits
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