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Steps to Write a Method Section in the IMRaD format

The method sections’ major role in the IMRaD report helps you, the writer, to carry out bit by bit descriptions of how you conduct your empirical research to make them replicable and transparent. The main purpose of this is to provide other learners the credible information so that they can easily understand your research process. Compare and contrast the findings of your research with other researches. And if possible, they will also duplicate your work. But in the method section, writers introduce the kind of their data and explain how they collect their data, analyze their data, and justify their choices.

When we talk about the linguistics methods, the verbs are in the past tense since the research is already there before even the researchers start to work on their work. In this case, data collection and data analysis are complete. Unlike other types of sections, the use of passive voice in this section is essential. It emphasizes the formula and procedure instead of the person who is researching. 

IMRaD is like a report which has a structure. It also stands for Introduction Methods Result Discussion that researchers use in empirical research and social and natural sciences. You can also do further research on IMRaD so that you can get more explanations on that topic.

Common moves in Method Section

Below we will give a few moved that are in IMRaD. Huffman, Cotos, & Link are the ones who are identifying these moves. They have a complete examination on these moves around thirty disciplines. The most vital role of these moves is to show information that researchers can include in methods sections. But not every movie that we are going to list will appear in all papers that researchers do. And also in the order that is the same. The moves and their sub moves are not in the sequential order example given researchers can interchange and skip to move two from other moves but in a cylindrical way. 

It depends on the disciplines, the sub-disciplines, and the nature of the study, and these moves vary to a large extent. For example, the qualitative studies that get their support from interviews have huge sections that describe coding schemes and participants. Simultaneously, the papers in the chemistry subject will focus their attention on the laboratory equipment that the researchers use for their research.

Contextualize studying methods

This method assists in the provision of the background study that is about the study. 

Sub-moves

  • Select your preference of the study basing on the past studies by referencing the preferences.
  • Give relevant empirical and theoretical information to reveal the linkages to the fields.
  • Restate research purposes—the gap in the research or hypotheses. 
  • Give names to methodological approaches.
  • Explain the physical places of the studies.
  • Introduce the participants or subjects.
  • Backup pre-experiment alternatives.

Describe the study

This move describes fully what the researchers do during their research and how they do what they are doing. This move consists of fifty-five to eighty-eight percent of method sections.

In this move, there are only two sub moves that researchers put more focus on.

Sub-moves

  • Explain how you collect, analyze, and sample data.
  • Talk about the nature of the data.
  • Identify independent and dependent variables.
  • Describing study processes in a step-by-step way.
  • Describing the tools that the researchers use in the experiments
  • Justifying study decisions. And give the roles for certain steps

Conclusion

There is no right way or wrong way of arranging your moves. You can start with move one the come to move two. Find what is comfortable for you.

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