The Method Chapter uk.sagepub（该方法uk.sagepub章）.pdf

05-Rudestam.qxd 2/26/2007 5:24 PM Page 87 5 The Method Chapter Describing Your Research Plan T he Method chapter of a dissertation, article, or proposal describes the exact steps that will be undertaken to address your hypotheses or research questions. For this reason, the Method section follows logically from the statement of the problem in much the same way as research questions follow from the Review of the Literature. The goal of this chapter is to provide a clear and complete description of the specific steps to be followed. It is necessary to describe these steps in sufficient detail to help a naïve reader to replicate your study. In Chapter 3, we suggested that students select a suitable problem before selecting the appropriate method with which to study that problem. In some dissertations, however, the method may in fact be the topic of study. A student may become excited about the possibilities of a particular data collection technique or method prior to generating a suitable prob- lem. In most cases, though, the appropriate method of study is generated by careful consideration of the research questions and the applicable method by which those questions may be studied. The following material is divided into two major sections, one that focuses primarily on the quan- titative dissertation and one that focuses on the qualitative dissertation; we strongly recommend that you read both sections. The issues to be consid- ered are not independent of each other, and there is consider