[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":83},["ShallowReactive",2],{"answers-\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods":3,"answers-cluster-research-methods":42,"answers-related-\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods":82},{"id":4,"title":5,"answer":6,"body":7,"cluster":23,"description":24,"extension":25,"faq":26,"heading":27,"intro":28,"kind":29,"meta":30,"navigation":31,"order":32,"outbound":33,"path":34,"primaryQuery":6,"product":35,"related":36,"seo":37,"sources":38,"stem":39,"updated":40,"__hash__":41},"answers\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods.md","Research Methods You Will Have to Justify","",{"type":8,"value":9,"toc":20},"minimark",[10,14,17],[11,12,13],"p",{},"Method textbooks explain procedures. They are much quieter about the decision that comes first, which is choosing between two defensible options and being able to say why.",[11,15,16],{},"These pages are written for that moment. Each one takes a choice you have to make and hold, gives the ruling, then gives the reasoning you can put in a methodology chapter. How many interviews is enough, and what saturation actually claims. Whether your coding is inductive, deductive, or both, and how to report it honestly. Which statistical test the shape of your data implies. What to do when an assumption fails and the textbook path closes.",[11,18,19],{},"Nothing here replaces a methods course or your supervisor. It is meant for the evening before a meeting, when you need to understand a choice well enough to defend it rather than well enough to teach it.",{"title":6,"searchDepth":21,"depth":21,"links":22},4,[],"research-methods","Qualitative coding, saturation, rigor, statistical test choice, sample size, and mixed methods, explained the way you will need to write them into a chapter.","md",[],"Research methods","The question is almost never what a method is. It is which one your study needs, and what you will say when an examiner asks why you chose it over the obvious alternative.","cluster",{},true,0,[],"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods",null,[],{"title":5,"description":24},[],"answers\u002Fresearch-methods","2026-08-06","Qfa6xsynMOiIdvPdHW42gUnl2IeE_MATzovM0ptYjjg",[43,48,53,58,62,67,72,77],{"path":44,"heading":45,"description":46,"order":47},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods\u002Fhow-to-do-thematic-analysis","How do I do thematic analysis step by step?","The steps of thematic analysis in order, the difference between a code and a theme, and how to tell whether a theme came from the data or from your expectations.",1,{"path":49,"heading":50,"description":51,"order":52},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods\u002Fhow-many-interviews-is-enough","How many interviews are enough for a qualitative study?","How many interviews a qualitative study actually needs, how to tell when saturation has been reached, and how to justify the number to reviewers and examiners.",2,{"path":54,"heading":55,"description":56,"order":57},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods\u002Finductive-or-deductive-coding","What is the difference between inductive and deductive thematic analysis?","The difference between inductive and deductive thematic analysis, whether the two can be combined in one study, and how to report which approach you used.",3,{"path":59,"heading":60,"description":61,"order":21},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods\u002Frigour-in-qualitative-research","How do I show rigour in qualitative research?","What rigour means in qualitative work, whether inter-rater reliability is needed, and what reflexivity looks like in practice rather than as a stated intention.",{"path":63,"heading":64,"description":65,"order":66},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods\u002Fchoose-a-statistical-test","How do I choose which statistical test to use?","How to work out which statistical test your data needs, the questions that decide the answer, and what to do when the assumptions of your chosen test fail.",5,{"path":68,"heading":69,"description":70,"order":71},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods\u002Fwork-out-your-sample-size","How do I calculate the sample size for a study?","How to calculate the sample size for a quantitative study, what a power analysis is actually doing, and what to do when the number you need is out of reach.",6,{"path":73,"heading":74,"description":75,"order":76},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods\u002Fwhat-a-p-value-means","What does a p value actually mean?","What a p value does and does not tell you, how to interpret a non-significant result, and why effect sizes and intervals usually belong alongside it.",7,{"path":78,"heading":79,"description":80,"order":81},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods\u002Fintegrate-mixed-methods-data","How do I integrate qualitative and quantitative data in a mixed methods study?","How to genuinely integrate qualitative and quantitative strands rather than reporting them separately, the standard designs, and where integration is written up.",8,[],1786014765368]