The methodology is an integral part of every Final Course Paper (TCC).
Also called scientific methodology, its objective is to explain the entire set of methods used and the path taken from the beginning to the conclusion of the TCC work.
The methodology of a scientific research paper can be presented in two ways:
- Introduction: the author of the research can choose to present data related to the methodology in the introduction of the work;
- Chapter: The research may also contain a separate chapter entitled "Scientific Methodology" dedicated exclusively to explaining the research development process.
Check below the items that the scientific methodology of a TCC should cover.
research objective
See how to make a methodology choosing the type of survey that best suits your TCC.
Exploratory research
When a student chooses to do research with an exploratory approach, it is understood that he does not have much knowledge about the subject and that the The main objective of the TCC will be to develop familiarity with the research topic in order to understand how things work within a given scope.
See more about exploratory research.
descriptive research
Descriptive research occurs when the student lists two or more variables in the TCC to describe the study.
When the research is done through the application of a questionnaire in order to collect data, for example, it is considered a descriptive research.
See more about descriptive research.
explanatory research
The purpose of explanatory research is to connect ideas in an attempt to explain the causes and effects of a given phenomenon.
Through this type of research, the author of the study tries to understand what is happening, usually through experimental methods.
know more about scientific research and how to write the methodology for the TCC.
See a summary of the three types of research at Descriptive, exploratory and explanatory research.
Definition of research sources
After defining the type of research to be carried out, the student must know what type of research sources he intends to use.
There are three possibilities for research sources:
Primary research source
Primary research sources are sources whose content is original, that is, whose concepts and information were produced by the author of the source.
Some examples of primary sources are:
- Technical reports;
- Dissertations;
- Articles;
- Ongoing study projects.
secondary research source
Secondary research sources consist of analyzes and assessments of primary sources.
Some examples of secondary sources are:
- Books;
- Manuals;
- Review articles;
- fairs and exhibitions
Tertiary research source
The tertiary research sources present a synthesis of the information presented in the primary and secondary sources.
Some examples of tertiary sources are:
- Bibliographies of bibliographies;
- Collective catalogs;
- Libraries;
- Summaries.
Presentation of research results
Once the definition and presentation of the research process is completed, the student must specify how he will approach the results.
In this context, he can choose one of the three existing options:
Qualitative Research Results
The results of a qualitative research usually expose the analysis of concepts and ideas.
See more about qualitative research.
Quantitative Research Results
The results of a quantitative survey are expressed in statistical numbers.
A commonly used way to make these numbers known is the use of graphs and tables.
See more about quantitative research.
Quali-quanti search results
The quali-quanti approach is a combination of the qualitative approach with the quantitative approach.
Research treatment procedure
One of the main presentation factors of a research work is to make clear the way the study was applied, that is, the methods used to achieve the desired results.
To conduct the course completion work, the student can choose from different types of resources. See below some of the main ones:
Literature review
This is a mandatory procedure in all course conclusion work, that is, regardless of the approach chosen for presenting the work, this item cannot be missing.
The bibliographic review, also known as bibliographic research, consists of gathering the data on which the investigation will be based.
Some of the main objectives of the bibliographic review are:
- Find out if someone has already answered the questions proposed by the survey;
- Analyze whether it is worth repeating a survey whose objectives have already been clarified in another study;
- Evaluate the methods used in similar studies.
know more about bibliographic research.
Study of documents
The study of documents, also known as document research, can be done by analyzing legal documents, technical standards or regulations, or by checking resources such as books, reports, magazines, websites, etc.
Field research
Field research, also called field study, allows the student to extract data and information directly from the reality of the object of study.
This is a procedure commonly used in areas such as Sociology and Economics, where the researcher uses the resource as a way to analyze the behavior of individuals in relation to a group, a community, etc.
know more about field research.
Interview
The student can gather data for their research work through interviews with specific person(s). To do this, it is enough to create a list of questions that will help to obtain the necessary information.
Methodology Examples
See below for some examples of ready-made methodologies:
Example 1
The method of descriptive research with the purpose of analyzing the values of an artistic work through an in-depth study of the sociology of art, starting from a bibliographical review composed by the main authors and sociologists of the area. The purpose is to trace a “pattern” that can be worked as an example and applied together with empirical objects.
For this, the research will be based on studies by authors, such as Nathalie Heinich, Howard Saul Becker, Pierre Bourdieu, Anna Lisa Tota, Simmel, Umberto Eco, among other thinkers who developed works relevant to the subject matter.
However, it is important to point out that the corpus of authors tends to increase as reading is developed.
As an empirical object, four contemporary art galleries were selected, two located in Portugal and the other two in Brazil.
Both were chosen because they are framed as active cores and with constant work within the artistic sector, annually participating in national and international fairs, in addition to promoting an extensive range of exhibitions and publications.
Starting from the concepts presented by the authors of the sociology of art, the work will analyze the profile of these empirical objects, understanding all the work that the galleries have done, as well as the importance they have for the construction of the art market local.
For this, a document research and occasionally interviews with those responsible for spaces or visitors and/or consumers of these galleries.
As part of the process of building the profile of the selected galleries, it will be necessary to survey and analyze the art producers (artists) who are part of the galleries, relating the work they develop with the artistic value that, in principle, is appreciated by the object empirical.
The study will essentially be qualitative, with an emphasis on observation and documentary study, at the same time that it will be necessary to cross-reference the surveys with all the bibliographic research already carried out.
Example 2
In order to obtain the results and answers about the problematization presented in this work, a film analysis will be carried out on two films of different narrative styles through the explanatory research.
Two filmic works were chosen, one that works on the characteristics of the Nouvelle Vague - a French cinematographic movement - (Os Misunderstood by François Truffaut) and another that fits into the postmodernist period (Larry Clark's Kids), however both address the theme of adolescence marginalized in its context, which is subdivided into three themes: the family, sexuality and society, which will also favor an analysis comparative.
The study of this work will be based on ideas and assumptions of theorists that have significant importance in definition and construction of the concepts discussed in this analysis: Modernism, Post-Modernism, Nouvelle Vague, Cinema and the Adolescent. To this end, such objects will be studied in secondary sources such as academic works, articles, books and the like, which were selected here.
Therefore, the work will proceed from the conceptual-analytical method, as we will use concepts and ideas from other authors, similar to our goals, for the construction of a scientific analysis about our object of study.
The chosen research method favors a freedom in the analysis to move along different paths of knowledge, making it possible to assume various positions along the way, not requiring a single and universal response to respect for the object.
The references about cinema, under some characteristics that will be presented in this work, do not present predictions. irreversible, since the possibilities for analysis are numerous when it comes to the sociocultural expression of a society.
See too:
- Methodology Examples
- Scientific methodology
- Methodology
- Search Types
- Case study
- scientific method
- Introduction Examples