Find your question.
Build the thesis that answers it.

Methodology Match is a card game for people designing research. Everyone works towards a research question about the same object of study, and a thesis that can answer it. Then the table tests whether question and design hold together. Nobody scores points. Viva la viva.

How to playBrowse the cards

What you build

One research question, and the chain of four choices that can answer it. Your Position says what kind of question you are asking. Every other card says which positions it fits and which it pulls against, so the argument is on the table.

How it plays

1. Draw a cardFrom the Positions deck, the Toolkit deck, or the discard pile. Hands are face-up, so everyone can read and help.
2. Play one or discard oneAdd a card to your thesis, or give one up. That is the whole turn. Rewrite your question as the cards teach you something.
3. Test the questionWhen a thesis is complete, everyone reads out their question and the cards that answer it. Is it about the object? Does it belong to the position? Could the methods answer it?

2–4 players or teams · 20–30 minutes · no card-game experience needed · 53 cards

Who it is for

Doctoral and master’s researchers, especially in the arts, design, humanities and social sciences, and the people who teach them research methods. The cards also work as flashcards: name on the back, definition on the front. Scan the QR code on any card to reach its page here.

Made by Harry Whalley.