Ph.D. Prep Panel
How to Critically Write, Read, and Review the Methods Section
Friday, February 20 | 10:30 AM – 11:45 AM ET
Learning to handle the methods section well is one of the most useful skills you can develop as a researcher. When you write your own methods, you want to give readers a clear picture of what you did and why those choices make sense for your questions. When you read someone else’s methods, you want to understand how the design supports the claims they make and where the limitations might sit. And when you review, you want to assess whether the evidence is strong enough, whether key details are missing, and whether the authors have matched their methods to their theoretical goals. Approaching the methods section with this mix of clarity, curiosity, and healthy skepticism will make you a stronger writer, a sharper reader, and a more constructive reviewer.
Dr. Jeremy Schoen
Biography
Jeremy L. Schoen received his PhD from the Scheller College of Business at Georgia Institute of Technology. He is currently an assistant professor in the College of Business at Tennessee Tech University. His interest are research methods, implicit personality, and creativity.
Jeremy’s research has been published in top journals in the organizational sciences such as Journal of Management, Organizational Research Methods, and Journal of Organizational Behavior. Jeremy is a member of the Academy of Management, Southern Management Association, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and the American Psychological Association. Additionally, he serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Management, Organizational Research Methods, and Journal of Vocational Behavior.
Biography
Scott Johnson earned his PhD at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and is now a Professor in the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship at the Ivy College of Business at Iowa State University. He teaches courses in Strategic Management and Professional Ethics. He has published in journals such as the Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Management and Journal of Management Studies. His research focuses on corporate governance, managerial cognition, the philosophy of science and research methods. He is particularly interested in improving how the theories and methodologies used in governance research represent the complexity of real organizations.
Dr. Scott Johnson
Dr. Patrick Downes
Biography
Patrick Downes is an associate professor of management at the University of Kansas School of Business. He earned his doctoral degree in Management and Organizations from the University of Iowa, his master’s degree in Higher Education from Iowa State University, and his bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Business Administration from the University of Kansas.
His research interests include employees’ social contexts (e.g., social networks, social comparisons, social learning, and teamwork) as well as research methods applied in both social science and people analytics practice. His work has been published in academic journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, Harvard Business Review, Human Resource Management Review, and Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.
Downes has served as an elected officer in the Human Resources Division of the Academy of Management and is a member of the Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology and the Interdisciplinary Network for Group Research. He teaches undergraduate courses in organizational behavior and compensation, and research methods at the doctoral level.