In this short article, I have provided you with a guide that will help you defend your research methodology with ease. This is based on popular demand and the fact that chapter three, which is mostly “research methodology”, is the most crucial part of project writing.

You must not joke with this guide!

A lot of students spend hours and days writing their methodology, yet when it’s time to defend it, they struggle to answer questions relating to the following:

1. The reason they use a questionnaire in their project?
2. The reason for their selected sample sizes, e.g., 250.
3. The rationale behind their choosing a particular research design?

In this article, you will learn how to confidently answer these questions with real-life questions and suitable answers for the methodology questions.

What Do Your Examiners or Supervisors Actually Want to See?

It will shock you to know that your supervisor and examiners already have the answers to all the questions they ask you during the defense, but they deliberately want to confuse you and try to ascertain the following;

1. Whether you actually understand the process of your research
2. Whether the method you adopted is appropriate for the study
3. Whether your final result or output can be trusted

Your ability to explain them keeps you above the game and convinces them you know what you are doing.

What Are the Common Research Methodology Questions Asked?

Some of the common questions under research methodology will be given below and answers provided for your use.

What is your reason for choosing this research design?

Guide: Tell them your reason for selecting the research design you used. You don’t need to define anything yet.

Answer: My reason for adopting Survey Research Design is that the study has to do with collection of a large number of respondents. Hence, this approach helps the study in doing a thorough quantitative analysis and detailed findings for the study.

What is your reason for choosing the sample size?

Guide: Justify your reason, don’t guess.

Answer: The sample size was determined with used of Taro Yamane formular to enable an accurate representation of the entire population. Due to the size of the population being large, there was a need to reduce it to a sample size that best represents the whole population in order to conclude the study within a record time and available resources.  

Why did you use a questionnaire?

I used a questionnaire so as to be able to collect data from the respondents. The questionnaire I collected makes it easier to analyse their responses and compare them to get to my conclusion.

How reliable is your data? Explain to us?

A reliability test was carried out through the pre-testing of the questionnaire. I also ensured that the questionnaire was sent to the right respondents who are directly associated with the problems this research tries to solve and who are knowledgeable to a large extent.

Were there any limitations with your methodology?

Note: This is where many undergraduate and postgraduate students fail.

The student should try to show how they managed the limitations encountered during the study.

Answer: There is usually a high possibility of respondents supplying wrong answers to questions asked during the interview and responding to the questionnaire. So, to manage the situation, I ensured that all the questions asked were simplified for better understanding.

Mistakes That Many Students Make During Methodology Defense

You have to avoid the following;

1. Memorising before defence. Never memorise any definitions without having a good understanding of them
2. Provide unclear and incomplete answers. Don’t give vogue answers to questions asked.
3. Self-contradiction. Don’t contradict what you have written in Chapter 3. Be precise and accurate.
4. Many students fail to link the right answers to their study’s objectives

If you need a tutor or a research expert to guide you in defending your final year project or thesis, you can reach out to us. We are willing to prepare a mock defense to get you ready to excel in your research endeavor. Cheers!