Technique vs Method vs Methodology

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 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. Models, procedures and techniques are examples of methods. Thus, the robin-round approach to collecting ideas in Structured Democratic Dialogue, the particilar approach used to cluster ideas, the Interpretive Structural Modeling used for mapping are all methods.

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.

The above distinctions were necessary because, for example, Rosenhead (2001) and Rosenhead & Mingers (2001) use the terms interchangeably thus creating some confusion.

(Source: Jackson, 2000)

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