Materials and Methods
Materials and Methods Section:
Upload your peer-reviewed Materials & Methods Section in Canvas. Make sure you follow the rubric and directions below.
Check out this helpful articleLinks to an external site. on how to write an effective Materials and Methods section.
This section should serve as a clear, step-by-step guide to how your research was conducted. Begin by listing all materials and equipment used, followed by a detailed description of how these materials were utilized. You may use bullet points to outline the main techniques, equipment, and procedures. Keep your explanations concise, focusing on critical information needed for the audience to understand your project – such as sample size, specific equipment, and important experimental conditions. Including visual aids to represent the experimental process can also help clarity and help viewers follow along more easily.
Underline key techniques or methods to emphasize their importance. Be sure to include the following details:
- Participants: total number of participants while maintaining confidentiality (Remember your IRB training – keep the identities of your participants confidential!). Age range and ethnicities of participants. Gender distribution.
- Study Duration and Data Collection: duration of the study. Methods of data collection (e.g., was blood pressure measure manually or automatically? Did all participants use the same brand of equipment or different ones?). Environment in which the data collection was collected (e.g., lab setting…). Specific intervals for data collection (e.g., weekly, daily,….)
- Data Accuracy and Consistency: if multiple people collected data, how did you ensure consistency and accuracy across collectors?
- Controlling Variables: list any confounding variables and describe how they were controlled throughout the data collection process.
