Spring 2024 SOWK 460w Week 11 - Writing and Developing Your Methods Section

Analysis Data Collection Methodology Writing and Developing YOUR METHODS SECTION Research Question SOWK 460W WEEK 11 Jacob Campbell, PhD LICSW HERITAGE UNIVERSITY

AGENDA Week 11 for SOWK 460w Research article activity Discussion and tips regarding writing your methods section Time to work in your groups

RESEARCH ARTICLE ACTIVITY from the APA Style Website 7th Edition Research Article Activity This activity helps students find, cite, analyze, and summarize a scholarly research article. For each step of the activity, type your responses directly into the text fields provided, or copy the questions into your preferred word-processing program and answer them there. Complete this activity multiple times to help you write papers such as literature reviews. Notes for each part indicate where to find more information in the seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition or on the APA Style website. Step 1: Finding a Research Article To get us started today, you are going to pick an article that is a study that you are going to cite in your inal paper. As a group, go through and complete each of the parts. We will come back to this article later. The best place to find a reliable research article is in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal accessed from a research database or platform, such as APA PsycNet, ProQuest, OvidSP, or EBSCOhost. Check with your university library to see which platforms and databases your school has access to and which ones are recommended for your subject area. APA journals are a good starting point for students of psychology. Many types of research articles are published in scholarly journals, including quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies. In general, research articles have the following characteristics: • report original, or primary, research • include distinct sections that reflect the stages of the research process, usually the following sections in the following order: ° Introduction: description of the purpose of the investigation and the issues being reported, review of the background literature, and study objectives and/or hypotheses ° Method: full description of each step of the study, including the participants involved, materials used, procedures followed, and research design ° Results (quantitative article): report of the results of statistical analyses conducted ° Findings (qualitative article): report of the findings using natural language ° Discussion: summary and interpretation of the study, strengths and limitations, implications of the results or findings, and next steps Consult Chapters 1 and 3 of the Publication Manual for further description of research articles and the sections often included in them, respectively. f https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/apa-style-research-activity.pdf

WHY DOES THE METHODS SECTION MATTER • • • Make the study reproducible It helps clarify and understand the results Establishes the credibility of the research being reported

f CONSIDERATION FOR YOUR METHOD SECTION Imagine yourself replicating the study in the future and the information you would need. Remember, the dual purpose of methods is for understanding and replication. Adhere to ethical standards and reporting guidelines Consider a visual aid such as a lowchart, decision tree, or checklist, as they bring clarity. (PLOS, n.d.)

3 Whole Class Discussion: What are things that stood out from the methods section from your irst article you looked at this evening? Examples REVIEW THE METHODS SECTION • What stands do you notice about their methods • What do you feel you learned by reading the f • sections? methods sections? What is something you could do in your methods sections based on reviewing these?

f TIPS FOR WRITING YOUR METHODS Use irst-person pronouns Capture changes to protocols Write using past tense Include ethical framework Be precise and concise Consider active versus passive voice

“I” OR “WE” Generally, academic writing is done using the third person. The APA style guide does tell us when we are talking about our work (e.g., the methods of our study) or personal reactions, to use irst-person pronouns in our writing. Tips for Writing Your Methods USE FIRST PERSON f f https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/grammar/ irst-person-pronouns

Di erent Sections Usually Require Di erent Verb Tense Wrote Write Will write Past Present Future Verbs are direct, vigorous communicators. Use a chosen verb tense consistently throughout the same and adjacent paragraphs of a paper to ensure smooth expression. Tips for Writing Your Methods USE PAST TENSE ff ff https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/grammar/verb-tense

Encourage precision and conciseness. Every sentence should contribute to an understanding of what was done and why. Avoid unnecessary detail that does not contribute to the overall understanding of the methodology. Tips for Writing Your Methods BE PRECISE AND CONCISE (PLOS, n.d.)

TRANSPARENCY BETWEEN WHAT YOU PLANNED TO DO AND WHAT YOU ACTUALLY IMPLEMENTED Tips for Writing Your Methods CAPTURE CHANGES TO PROTOCOLS (PLOS, n.d.)

THE METHODS SECTION IS WHERE YOU CAN DISCUSS HOW YOU HANDLED YOUR EVALUATION ETHICALLY Tips for Writing Your Methods INCLUDE ETHICAL FRAMEWORK

Active Voice Let’s Get Active: Active the subject of a sentence is followed by the verb and then the object of the verb (e.g., “the children ate the cookies”). Voice Writing Guide Complete Worksheet https://apastyle.apa.org/ instructional-aids/active-voice.pdf Passive voice the object of the verb is followed by the verb (usually a form of “to be” + past participle + the word “by”) and then the subject (e.g., “the cookies were eaten by the children”). If the subject is omitted (e.g., “the cookies were eaten”), it may result in confusion about who performed the action (did the children eat the cookies, or was it the dog?). Tips for Writing Your Methods CONSIDER ACTIVE VS PASSIVE VOICE https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/grammar/active-passive-voice

DIRECTION IN THE TEMPLATE Be sure to justify all of your data collection decisions. Where did you get your data? What new data was collected? What secondary data was used? What methods did you use to acquire your data? Did you collect data from the entire population, or did you sample? If so, how did you sample? How did you identify or create your data collection instruments? How did you test your instruments for readability, reliability, validity, and cultural appropriateness? How did you determine the quality and utility of existing data? From whom did you collect existing data?

GROUP WORK TIME