Every empirical or analytical project begins with a research question, a clearly focused and specific question that the study aims to answer and that guides the research design, methodology, and analysis. A good research question is focused rather than sprawling, researchable with available resources, complex enough to resist a simple yes-or-no answer, and relevant to the field in which the writer is working. A research question is not the same thing as a hypothesis: the research question articulates what the study wants to find out, whereas a hypothesis is a testable prediction of the expected answer or outcome. Together with the thesis, the research question frames the whole project, with the research question driving the investigation and the thesis statement eventually presenting the answer or argument developed in response to that question.
Different research questions call for different methodologies. Qualitative research explores phenomena through non-numerical data such as interviews, observations, and text analysis to understand meanings, experiences, and perspectives. Common qualitative data collection methods include semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and participant observation, the latter often associated with ethnography. Quantitative research, by contrast, uses numerical data and statistical analysis to test hypotheses, measure variables, and identify patterns or causal relationships, drawing on methods such as surveys and questionnaires, experiments, and secondary data analysis of existing datasets. Mixed methods research combines both approaches in a single study to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the research problem. Mixed methods studies can be structured in different ways: a convergent design collects qualitative and quantitative data simultaneously and compares them, while an explanatory sequential design collects quantitative data first and then gathers qualitative data to explain or illuminate the quantitative results.
No matter the methodology, the methods section of a research paper describes how the study was conducted, including its participants, materials, procedures, and analysis, so that other scholars can evaluate and replicate the work. Underpinning methodological decisions is a careful awareness of source types. A primary source is an original, firsthand document or artifact from the time period or phenomenon being studied, such as diaries, interviews, raw data, or original research articles. A secondary source interprets, analyzes, or comments on primary sources and includes works like review articles, textbooks, and critical essays. Distinguishing primary from secondary sources is important because primary sources provide direct evidence while secondary sources offer context and analysis that may carry bias. The distinction is not always fixed, however. A newspaper article published in 1920, for example, is a primary source for historians studying that era but may function as a secondary source if it reports on events the journalist did not witness firsthand.