The IA research methodology
Thursday 1 May 2025
Why research methodology and not just research method?
Research methodology includes an explanation of the sampling technique, choice of procedure, ethical considerations, and a justification for the research method. A student should explain why their proposed method is appropriate for the investigation. This will rely on their topic, population of interest, and aim or research question. Students should also explain steps that can be taken to minimize or address all ethical issues. However, remember that the students will not be carrying out this investigation. This is a proposal, and as such, it gives them more methodological freedom.
Choosing a method
Ask students to think of their population of interest and imagine how they could best answer their research question. A student with a good imagination could visualise themselves conducting their research. You may want to take this opportunity to ask a few questions, like “Would it be ethical to conduct an experiment? Would an observation result in participant expectations?”
Some examples
If students are investigating the playground behaviour of young children, then a structured observation would be a good method. Why? Considering the alternatives, we can see that young children could not answer questionnaires, and students might find that interviewing resulted in strong participant expectations.
If the aim is to investigate the effectiveness of a particular teaching or learning technique, a true experiment could be a way to gain valid data. Participants would be randomly allocated to an experimental group that uses the technique and a control group that does not.
Research exploring the implications of banning mobile phones during the school day may be carried out using questionnaires that are shared online with students.
Sensitive topics, like student exam anxiety, may be better investigated through individual semi-structured interviews.
Students must create one data collection tool with at least five items. This might be an interview guide, a survey, an observational checklist or a tool to measure memory in an experiment.
For more support with IA research methodology, see the InThinking page here
Upcoming post
The next blog post will leave the IA for a while, but will still look at research methods. We have demonstrated integrating biological, cognitive and sociocultural content, and also the concepts, into the contexts. Research methods show students how researchers gather data to answer their key questions and allow them to develop further hypotheses. They are also part of the course content and need to be within the contexts throughout.