The APA methods section describes exactly how you conducted your study. Its purpose is reproducibility: a reader should be able to replicate your study based solely on what you write here. It answers three core questions — who participated, what materials or instruments were used, and what procedure was followed.
Methods Section Structure
| Subsection | What to include |
|---|---|
| Participants | Sample size, demographics, inclusion/exclusion criteria, recruitment method, compensation |
| Materials / Instruments | Measures used, reliability data, psychometric properties, equipment |
| Design | Research design (experimental, quasi-experimental, correlational), independent and dependent variables |
| Procedure | Step-by-step account of data collection, order of tasks, instructions given, timeline |
| Data analysis | Statistical tests used, software, significance threshold, handling of missing data |
Source: APA Publication Manual, 7th Edition, Section 3.6.
Methods Section Formatting
| Element | Format |
|---|---|
| Section heading | Method — centered, bold (Level 1 heading). Note: «Method» not «Methods» |
| Subsection headings | Participants, Materials, Procedure — bold, left-aligned (Level 2) |
| Tense | Past tense throughout («Participants completed…», «We recruited…») |
| Voice | Active voice preferred in APA 7 («We conducted» rather than «The study was conducted») |
| Length | As long as needed for replication — typically 300–800 words for a standard study |
Participants Subsection: What to Report
Report enough demographic information for readers to assess generalizability:
| Variable | What to report |
|---|---|
| Sample size | Final N after exclusions; state how many were excluded and why |
| Age | Mean and standard deviation: M = 22.4 years, SD = 3.1 |
| Gender | Number or percentage per category |
| Relevant characteristics | Education, clinical status, language, any characteristic relevant to your research question |
| Recruitment | How and where participants were recruited (e.g., «via university email listserv») |
| Compensation | Whether participants received payment or course credit |
| Ethics | Institutional review board approval and whether informed consent was obtained |
Example: Participants paragraph
Participants were 312 undergraduate students (Mage = 20.3 years, SD = 2.1; 58% women, 40% men, 2% nonbinary) recruited from the psychology subject pool at a large public university in the southeastern United States. Inclusion criteria required enrollment in at least 12 credit hours and self-reported fluency in English. Participants received course credit for participation. The study was approved by the university’s Institutional Review Board (Protocol #2023-0412), and all participants provided written informed consent.
Materials / Instruments Subsection
For each measure or instrument, report:
- Name of the instrument
- Number of items and response scale
- What construct it measures
- Reliability (Cronbach’s α or other coefficient)
- Citation for the original scale
- Any modifications made for your study
Example: Instrument description
Sleep quality was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI; Buysse et al., 1989), a 19-item self-report instrument that assesses seven components of sleep across the past month. Items use a 0–3 scale; a global PSQI score above 5 indicates poor sleep quality. Internal consistency in the present sample was acceptable (α = .78).
Procedure Subsection
Describe events in the order they occurred. Include:
- Where data collection took place (lab, online, field)
- What participants did, in sequence
- Duration of each task or session
- Any counterbalancing or randomization
- Instructions given to participants (summarized, not verbatim)
- How data were recorded or collected
Common Methods Section Mistakes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| Writing in present tense («Participants complete…») | Use past tense throughout the Methods section |
| Heading «Methods» with an S | APA uses «Method» (singular) as the section heading |
| Omitting IRB approval or consent | Required for any study involving human participants |
| Describing results in the Methods section | Methods describes what you did, not what you found |
| Not citing the instruments used | Every established scale or measure must be cited |
For the APA results section — what to write immediately after the Methods — see the APA Format Guide.