Research Methodology Consulting
Design, sampling, instruments and analysis plan checked before you collect data, while changes are still easy.
Most problems examiners find in a thesis’s results chapter were created long before it was written. A sample too small to detect the effect the study was looking for. A questionnaire adapted from three sources and never piloted. Objectives that ask “what influences” something while the design can only show association. An analysis chosen after the data arrived, because it was the one that gave a result. By then, the remaining fixes are costly ones: collect more data, or rewrite the objectives to match what the study can actually say.
Methodology consulting is about catching these problems while they are still easy to fix: at the proposal or synopsis stage, before the ethics application, or at the latest before the main data collection. We review the chain that runs from your research questions to your design, your sample, your instruments and your analysis plan, and check that each link holds.
The decisions stay with you and your supervisor. What we give you is a second, experienced reading of the method, the reasons behind each recommendation, and documents you can put in front of your doctoral committee and defend at the viva.
Scope
What’s included
Take one stage or several. A scholar with an approved proposal may only need the instrument and analysis-plan stages; one still shaping the synopsis may want the design review first.
Design review
Whether your objectives call for an experimental, quasi-experimental, cross-sectional, longitudinal, case study, qualitative or mixed-methods design, and what each choice will and won’t let you claim about cause and effect.
Sampling and sample size
Sampling frame and technique, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and a sample size justified by a power analysis (for example in G*Power) or by the conventions of the analysis you plan, such as structural equation modelling or saturation in qualitative work.
Instrument design and validation
Building or adapting a questionnaire, interview guide or observation schedule: item wording, scales, permissions for adapted instruments, translation and back-translation, expert content validity, pilot testing and reliability analysis.
Ethics application support
Preparing the documents your institutional ethics committee expects: study summary, participant information sheet, informed consent form in the participants’ language, data protection plan and risk assessment.
Analysis plan
A written plan linking each objective and hypothesis to a variable, a measurement level and a specific test or analytic approach, with the assumptions to be checked. All of this is fixed before the data are collected.
Quality
How quality is verified
These are the checks every piece of work goes through before it reaches you.
Objective-to-analysis traceability table
Every consultation ends with a table mapping each objective to its variables, instruments, items and planned analysis. Gaps and mismatches are visible at a glance, and your committee can check it too.
Power calculations shown in full
We state the effect size, significance level, power and test used in every sample-size calculation, and where the assumed effect size came from, so the number can be reproduced and challenged.
Instrument validity evidence documented
Content validity from an expert panel (for example an item-level content validity index), pilot results and reliability statistics such as Cronbach’s alpha are reported with their limitations, not just the headline figure.
Reviewed by a methodologist in your discipline
A survey design in management and a clinical study in nursing have different norms. Your design is reviewed by someone who knows the conventions your examiners will apply.
Written reasoning, not just recommendations
Each recommendation comes with the reason and, where useful, a methodological reference you can cite, so you can explain the choice yourself.
Time
Realistic timelines
Our consulting work is measured in days to weeks. Waiting for committee approval, ethics clearance and pilot participants usually takes longer than the work itself, so start early.
| Stage | Typical time | What it depends on |
|---|---|---|
| Design review | 4–7 working days | How developed your objectives and proposal are |
| Sampling and sample size | 3–5 working days | Availability of prior studies to base the effect size on |
| Instrument design | 1–2 weeks | Whether items are new, adapted or translated |
| Expert validation and pilot | 3–6 weeks | How quickly experts respond and pilot participants can be reached |
| Ethics application documents | 1–2 weeks | Your institution’s forms and the study’s risk level |
| Analysis plan | 4–7 working days | Number of objectives and complexity of the models |
Instruments
Validity and reliability without the jargon
Two questions every examiner asks about a questionnaire — and what a good answer looks like.
Does it measure what you say it measures?
That is validity, and for a new or adapted instrument it is built up from several kinds of evidence. Content validity comes first: a panel of subject experts rates each item for relevance, and items that don’t reach agreement are revised or dropped. After the main data are in, construct validity is typically checked with factor analysis (exploratory, confirmatory or both), along with convergent and discriminant validity where the analysis calls for them.
Does it measure consistently?
That is reliability. For multi-item scales, Cronbach’s alpha is the usual first statistic, and values around 0.70 or above are commonly treated as acceptable for research use. But alpha is not a magic number: it rises with the number of items, and a very high value can mean items are near-duplicates. Composite reliability, test–retest reliability or inter-rater agreement may be more appropriate, depending on the instrument.
Why the pilot matters
A pilot on a small group from your target population shows whether respondents understand the items, how long the instrument takes, and whether any scale behaves strangely. It is also where translation problems surface. Skipping it saves a few weeks and can cost a whole data-collection round.
Ethics approval
Research involving human participants generally needs approval from your institution’s ethics committee before any data are collected, including pilot data. In biomedical and health research, committees in India follow the ICMR National Ethical Guidelines; clinical trials have additional registration requirements. Collecting data first and seeking approval later is not something a committee can fix retrospectively.
Once the data are in, our statistical analysis and qualitative data analysis services follow on from the plan you fixed here. If the design is still part of a proposal, see research proposal and synopsis support.
Pricing
How pricing works
We quote after reading your proposal or synopsis and any draft instrument, because a single-survey study and a multi-phase mixed-methods design need very different amounts of work. You get a fixed quote for the stages you choose, agreed in writing before we begin.
Short one-off consultations, such as a single sample-size calculation or a review of an analysis plan, can be quoted as a small fixed piece of work.
What the quote depends on
- Which stages you need
- Number of objectives, variables and study phases
- Whether instruments are new, adapted or translated
- Discipline and the specialist knowledge required
- Your committee or ethics submission deadline
Every quote includes
- A written scope listing exactly what will be delivered
- A fixed price agreed before any payment
- Payment in stages, tied to delivery
- Revision rounds stated in the scope
Process
How it works
Free consultation
A call or message with a specialist in your subject. We review your material and say plainly whether we are the right fit.
Written scope and quote
You get a written scope, a timeline and a fixed price. Work and payment begin once you agree to it.
Staged delivery
Work arrives in stages you review, each with a similarity report where text is involved. You pay stage by stage.
Revisions and hand-over
Revision rounds are included. At the end you get the final files, and an explanation of anything you’ll need to defend.
Keep reading
Guides and related services
How to write the research methodology chapter
Design, sampling, instruments, analysis and ethics, and how to justify each choice.
Research Proposal and Synopsis
A proposal that states a real gap, answerable objectives and a method your committee can approve.
Statistical Analysis (SPSS, R, AMOS, SmartPLS)
The right tests, assumptions checked, results interpreted — and syntax you can rerun and defend.
PhD timeline and milestones in India
Coursework to viva under the UGC 2022 regulations, year by year, with the usual sticking points.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
My data are already collected. Is it too late for methodology help?
Help is still useful at this stage; it just takes a different form. With the design already set, we help you describe it accurately, choose analyses the data genuinely support, and write limitations clearly. Examiners respond far better to an acknowledged limitation than to one they discover themselves.
Can you tell me the sample size my committee will accept?
We can give you a justified sample size (from a power analysis, the requirements of your planned analysis, or accepted qualitative practice) with the reasoning written out. Acceptance is your committee’s decision, but a transparent justification is much harder to argue with than a round number.
My Cronbach’s alpha is 0.62. Can you get it above 0.7?
The responses themselves stay exactly as collected, since changing them would be falsifying data. We can look at item statistics to see whether a poorly worded or reverse-coded item is the cause, and whether removing it is justifiable on content grounds as well as statistically. Any removal is reported. Sometimes the best answer is to report the value as it is and discuss it.
Will you design the whole study so I can just follow it?
We advise; you decide. The method has to be one you understand well enough to defend line by line at the viva, and the design choices should reflect your research question, not ours. Everything we recommend comes with its reasoning so that you can own it.
Do you help with the ethics committee application?
Yes. We help with the protocol summary, information sheet, consent form and data management plan, in the format your committee expects. The application is submitted by you and your supervisor, and the committee’s decision is its own.
What if the examiner questions my method?
That is what the traceability table and written reasoning are for. You will know why each choice was made and which methodological sources support it, and you can say so. If it helps, we can include method questions in a mock viva.
Is my proposal kept confidential?
Yes. Your proposal and instruments are shared only with the consultant working on them, used only for your project, and deleted on request once the engagement ends. We will sign an NDA if asked.
Talk it through with a specialist for free
Send us where you are and what you need. We’ll reply within one working day with clear advice, a written scope and a fixed quote. No obligation.
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