How to Write the Methods Section

The Methods section describes what you did in enough detail that another researcher could repeat the study and judge its validity. Use the reporting guideline for your design as a checklist of items to include.

Typical subsections

1. Study design and setting: design, dates, location, reporting guideline followed.
2. Participants: eligibility criteria, how they were identified or recruited, number excluded.
3. Exposure or intervention: what, how, by whom.
4. Outcomes: primary and secondary, definitions, measurement and timing.
5. Data collection and sources: instruments, records, quality checks.
6. Sample size: how it was determined, or why none was calculated.
7. Statistical analysis: methods for each outcome, handling of missing data and confounding, software.
8. Ethics: approval or exemption and consent, registration.

Style

• Use past tense and precise language.
• Use subheadings and a flow of the study in the order events occurred.
• Cite validated instruments or methods, and describe changes.
• Report deviations from the protocol and why.

Illustrative example

Invented for teaching. "We conducted a retrospective cohort study at a 400-bed hospital, reported following STROBE. We included adults aged 65 or older who had surgery for hip fracture from January 2022 to December 2024. The primary outcome was delirium within 7 days, defined as a documented diagnosis or a positive screening result." (Invented example.)

Checklist

• Could a reader tell exactly who was included and why?
• Are outcome definitions and timing clear?
• Is each analysis described and justified?
• Are ethics and consent stated?
• Is any pre-registration or protocol cited?

Common pitfalls

• Missing outcome definitions.
• Describing analyses that are not reported in the Results.
• Putting results in Methods.

Key takeaways

• Write for reproducibility and transparency.
• Use the reporting guideline as a checklist.

This page is general educational information about research methods. It is not medical, legal or regulatory advice; follow your institution's ethics board and your target journal's instructions.