A Student’s Guide to Methodology: Justifying Enquiry

A Student’s Guide to Methodology, a comprehensive and practical guide for students, presents clear and straightforward information and advice. Clough and Nutbrown present a perspective on methodology as a process, which begins from the moment that curiosity about a topic, is aroused. Although in dissertations and theses methodology is normally reported within a single methodology chapter, the authors show how every element of the account – from the framing of Research Questions to the drawing of Conclusions – is a function of methodology. Methodology describes what lies behind every single decision made in the creation of a research study. Methodology is about justifying the decisions researchers make in selecting and using their methods. The successful dissertation persuades the reader that what the researcher chose to do was not only appropriate but also necessary. Clough and Nutbrown distinguish clearly between methods and methodology, and describe in detail how their relationship is articulated in practice. Methodology is not just a chapter, but a process, which begins from day one of research design.A Student’s Guide to Methodology is supported by a series of activities, which will contribute directly to the writing of students’ own methodology chapters.