Smarty Stems

Knowing SPSS does not automatically mean your research should be quantitative. 😭

I see many students choose quantitative research first… simply because they already know how to run SPSS.

But your software skills should never decide your research methodology.

Start with the research problem.

Then check your research questions and objectives.

Only after that should you decide whether quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods is the best fit.

The tool follows the methodology.

The methodology follows the research question.

💬 Comment METHOD and I’ll share my methodology decision prompt.

📌 Save this before choosing your research method.

Not to be dramatic, but your methodology may be wrong before you even start data collection. 😭

I often see research objectives using words like “explore” and “understand”… then the study suddenly uses a quantitative survey because “everyone uses SPSS.”

That is a research alignment problem.

Your:

Research Problem → Research Questions → Objectives → Methodology → Data Collection → Analysis

should logically connect.

The method should help you answer the research question—not simply be the easiest method to use.

Before writing your methodology chapter, check the alignment first.

💬 Comment ALIGN and I’ll share my AI prompt for checking research alignment.

📌 Save this before finalizing your research methodology.