Methods

The main purpose of a methods section is to provide enough detail for potential replication! Written in past tense, active voice. The methods section should have THREE main subsections. Please see empirical journal articles or the “A” paper I posted under the project resources module for more examples of how to write a methods section. You do not need your results in order to write a methods section.

YOU NEED THREE MAIN SUBSECTIONS IN YOUR METHODS SECTION. I INCLUDED SOME HELPFUL INFORMATION BELOW:

• Participants
  • We are only using this College students
• Materials/Measures
  • Discuss only the items you are using, not all of the survey items
• Procedure
  • Participants will complete a survey on GoogleForms that will take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Survey responses are confidential.

I HAVE EXPLAINED EACH SECTION BELOW:

1. Participants: Who were the participants in the study? How did you recruit them? How many people are in your sample (N- you won’t know this number util after data collection), what is the average age (M,SD), percent male/female?
2. Materials/Measures: This is where you will explain the measures you used to answer your research question. You will want to break down this section into further sections such as:
   1. Questionnaire A (NAME IT SOMETHING THAT REFLECTS WHAT YOU ARE MEASURING)- for example- Academic success- list the items you used to measure academic success- Provide example items and the scale of measurement.
   2. Questionnaire B (NAME IT SOMETHING THAT REFLECTS WHAT YOU ARE MEASURING) Mindset- list the items that you used to measure mindset Provide example items and the scale of measurement (1-strongly disagre to 5-strongly agree)
   3. Demographics- list any demographics that you used to analyze your data (age, gender, etc)
3. Procedure: How did you conduct your study? Think of it like a recipe- include details relevant for replication
4. (I will attach the sample and survey)