Methodology is a higher-order term than methods.
OR and systems thinking, use the term methodology to describe an organized set of methods and techniques employed to intervene in and change real-world problem situations. Methodology can provide the bridge between theory and practice, ensuring that theory is turned into practical action and allowing reflection back on theory, stemming from the results of that action.
Methods (including models, procedures and techniques) are then defined as tools used by methodologies for limited purposes. They may, therefore, be detachable from a particular methodology and the theory that lies behind it.
Jackson argued (Jackson, 2000) that it is particularaly insightful to link methodology closely to theory and to see different principles of method use as related to different theoretical positions.
(Source: Jackson, 2000)
Rosenhead (2001) and Rosenhead & Mingers (2001) use the terms interchangeably and this creates some confusion.
References
- Jackson MC (2000). Systems Approaches to Management. Plenum, New York
- Mingers, J., & Rosenhead, J. (2001). Rational analysis for a problematic world revisited (Vol. 1). John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
- Rosenhead J (2001). Preface. In: Rosenhead J and Mingers J (eds) Rational Analysis for a Problematic World Revisited, Wiley, Chichester, pp xiii-xv