Table of Contents
Definitions of Methodology
- (noun) The study of methods.
- (noun) A system or theory of how research proceeds, including considerations for ethics, methods, participants, and researchers.
Methodology Pronunciation
Syllabification: meth·od·ol·o·gy
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /meth-uh-dAHl-uh-jee/
- British English – /me-thuh-dOl-uh-jee/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˌmɛθəˈdɑlədʒi/
- British English – /ˌmɛθəˈdɒlədʒi/
Usage Notes
- Plural: methodologies
- Not to be confused with methods.
- Also called methodological analysis.
- An (noun) methodologist uses (adjective) methodologic or (adjective) methodologistic or (adjective) methodological ideas (adverb) methodologically.
Related Quotation
- “The first and fundamental rule is to consider social facts as things” (Durkheim [1895] 2004:50).
Related Videos
Additional Information
- Qualitative Research Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Quantitative Research Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “methodology” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
Related Terms
- cohort
- data
- hypothesis
- interview
- qualitative research
- quantitative research
- reliability
- research
- statistics
- study
Reference
Durkheim, Émile. [1895] 2004. “The Rules of Sociological Method.” Pp. 43–63 in Readings from Emile Durkheim. Rev. ed., edited and translated by K. Thompson. New York: Routledge.
Works Consulted
Agger, Ben. 2004. The Virtual Self: A Contemporary Sociology. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 5th ed. 2011. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Marsh, Ian, and Mike Keating, eds. 2006. Sociology: Making Sense of Society. 3rd ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.
Merriam-Webster. (N.d.) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/).
O’Leary, Zina. 2007. The Social Science Jargon Buster: The Key Terms You Need to Know. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Thompson, William E., and Joseph V. Hickey. 2012. Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology. 7th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Cite the Definition of Methodology
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “methodology.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved September 17, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/methodology/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
methodology. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/methodology/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “methodology.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed September 17, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/methodology/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“methodology.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 17 Sep. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/methodology/>.