methodscollecting

methodscollecting is a systematic practice in which researchers gather, curate, and organize a wide range of methodological approaches used across disciplines or within a single field. The aim is to map the landscape of methods, compare their assumptions and procedures, and support methodological reflection and planning.

It involves documenting each method's core characteristics, such as epistemological stance, data requirements, steps, analytical techniques, validation approaches, and reported limitations. The term emphasizes collection and cataloging of methods rather than application to specific problems.

Typical activities include defining inclusion criteria, performing comprehensive searches of scholarly publications, institutional reports, and practitioner literature, extracting method attributes, coding into a structured taxonomy, and building a searchable repository or database. Quality control and periodic updates are important to maintain relevance given evolving practices.

Outputs may include taxonomies or ontologies of methods, meta-summaries, and decision aids for method selection. Researchers may use methodscollecting to support method education, to inform meta-research on methodological diversity, or to facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Applications span social sciences, education, software engineering, public policy, and other fields where diverse approaches to inquiry exist. It complements systematic reviews by focusing on method characteristics rather than problem-specific findings.

Challenges include terminological variability, incomplete reporting, and the resource demands of large-scale collection projects. Sensitive or proprietary methods may raise ethical or intellectual-property concerns, and maintaining consistency across curators requires governance and transparent criteria.

See also systematic review, metaresearch, methodology, taxonomy, ontology, and data curation.