Checklist for Writing the Methods of a Research Paper
Use this checklist to perform a final check that you haven't left anything important out of your paper's methodology section.
If you're still in the process of writing your methodology, a deeper dive into the methods section can be found in my Research Writing Guide.
Download Magnum Academic Editing's 40-point Research Paper Checklist, which covers all major sections of a standard research article.
☐ Have I provided the participant characteristics that are relevant to my research objective?
☐ Have I explained how participants were recruited?
☐ Have I described any important demographic information about the sample that is relevant to my research question?
☐ Have I provided all inclusion and exclusion criteria that were applied?
☐ Have I clearly named and described the measures, instruments, materials, or variables used in my study?
☐ Have I explained why I selected measures or instruments when the choice requires justification?
For example, let readers know if you’re using a questionnaire because it has been previously used and validated by other researchers.
☐ Have I provided enough information for readers to understand what was measured and how it was measured?
Examples of this would be including a few example items from a questionnaire (or referring readers to the full questionnaire in an appendix).
☐ Have I described what participants did during the study in enough detail for other researchers to replicate the study?
☐ Have I explained the purpose of my choices when their rationale is not obvious?
Example: Listeners in the disclosure group were given the same set of questions used in Sprecher et al.’s (2012) study to elicit personal disclosure from speakers.
☐ Have I described the statistical or analytical procedures I used to answer my research question?
Example: The effect of self-disclosure was evaluated by conducting a series of independent-samples t-tests to compare the disclosure and ND conditions in terms of actual liking, perceived liking, and the liking gap (all tests were two-tailed).
☐ Where needed, have I included information that explains why I used my chosen data analysis procedures?
