Methodology Table
There are 2 main ways you can set this out & examples are shown below. They key things to
remember to include are:
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What you did (& if primary or secondary data collection)
Your own personal method(s)
Organising & sequencing the investigation – days, dates, times, sampling structure etc
Why you used those methods – justification of the choices you made to help you answer the
original question/hypothesis
Key Terms
Example 1.
We carried out these data collection methods in 3 sites in Porthcawl on 2nd July between 11.00
and 2.30 pm. The 3 sites are shown on the map below. I have set the data collection methods
out in chronological order.
Data collection
method
Secondary
research on
Porthcawl
Location
How the method was carried out
Why we chose this method
At school
before the
field trip
Using these websites: ….
To find out if Porthcawl is a
suitable location to
investigate the impact of
tourism. To help choose
suitable sites to collect the
data via photographs, maps
and other information…
Questionnaire
At all 3
sites
We devised a questionnaire
containing a mixture of open and
closed questions (see appendix
1), We aimed to get a sample of
50 people across the sites. We
used a random/systematic/etc
sampling strategy…..
Environmental
quality survey
At all 3
sites
We devised a EQS using the bipolar method (see appendix 2).
We each did these ourselves,
then totalled the group’s results
before producing a class
average…
This gives us information
from both locals and visitors
to help us find out what the
impact of tourism has been,
either positive or negative
or both.
Open Questions allow for…
Closed questions provide
quantitative data for
mapping, graphing etc….
The sampling strategy/size
was chosen to….
The EQS allows us to …
Example 2
Methodology Table
Method of
data collection
Secondary
data research
on Porthcawl
Questionnaire
(primary data)
Location
How the method was carried
out
Why we chose this method
At school before
the field trip
(Wednesday X &
Thursday Y)
At site 1,
Porthcawl
Promenade (see
map) between
11.00 and 12.00
on 2nd July 2015
At site 2…
EQS
There’s a lot you could write, some of it repetitive, so think carefully about how you set this out.
Bear in mind that there is a word limit of approx. 2,000 words so don’t go mad!