Free tool · PhD planning
Research methodology quiz
Ten random questions a round, with the reason behind every answer and a link to learn more.
This free research methodology quiz asks ten multiple-choice questions per round and after every answer shows whether you got it right, and why. Questions come at random from a bank of 61. When the round finishes, you see your score and also a topic-wise breakdown. That shows you what to revise before your PhD coursework exam, a university research entrance test (RET) or the research aptitude portion of UGC NET Paper I.
We wrote all the questions for this site itself. No question is lifted from a previous year’s paper, and none is copied from any question bank. They focus on the ideas where scholars mostly get confused in exams, like moderator or mediator, stratified or cluster sampling, reliability or validity, and a Type I or a Type II error.
Method
How this tool works
There are 61 questions in the bank, divided into eight topics. The list starts with research types and approaches, and then the research problem, hypotheses and variables. Research design is third and sampling fourth. Measurement, reliability and validity is one topic, and data collection tools come after it. Statistics and hypothesis testing is the seventh topic, and ethics, plagiarism and referencing is the last one. Forty questions are same as in our research methodology MCQs guide, word for word. The other 21 you will find only here.
In each round the quiz shuffles the bank and gives you ten questions, one by one. You pick one option and then only press “Check answer”, after which the quiz mark the correct option and your own choice in words, and adds a one-line reason. If we have a guide on that idea, the link is given along with it. Nobody is timing you, so go to “Next question” after reading the reason. Once the tenth question is done, you get your score and how you did in every topic that came up in that round.
When you press “Try another round”, you get ten questions you have not seen till now. When less than ten new ones are left, some old ones get mixed in to make ten, and counting starts from zero again. In seven rounds you will have covered the full bank.
Please read the explanation even if your answer was correct. Research methodology exams many times ask the same idea again in different wording, and it is the reason that helps you the next time. Suppose you are missing the same topic again and again. Then better open the linked guide before one more round. For p-values mistakes, sit with our page on how hypothesis testing works. For cluster sampling the sampling techniques guide is the one to read.
You can use the full quiz with the keyboard only. Arrow keys choose an option and Enter checks it. After each answer the focus goes to the Next button, and at the end it goes to your score. A screen reader will read out each verdict and reason as it comes on the screen.
Limits
What this tool can’t do
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Are these questions from past UGC NET papers?
No, they are not. We wrote each one ourselves, to test the same concepts that research methodology exams cover. Use them for practice only. Nobody can say what comes in the actual paper. For past UGC NET sessions, the National Testing Agency puts up answer keys on its own website, ugcnet.nta.ac.in.
Will this help with a PhD entrance test?
Yes, to a good extent. As per the UGC PhD Regulations 2022 (clause 5(2)(ii)), half of the syllabus of a university’s own entrance test has to be research methodology. The other half is on your subject. Each university decides the format of that test on its own, so check its previous papers or the notification also.
Is my score recorded?
No. The questions, your answers and the score all stay inside your browser. Same as with every tool on this site, we only count that the quiz was used. Nothing that identifies you is kept.
Does UGC NET have negative marking?
NTA’s information bulletin for the June 2025 session gave 2 marks for each question and said there is no negative marking. The rules are published fresh for every session, so see the bulletin of your own session before you sit for the exam.
I think one of the answers is wrong. What should I do?
Please write to us through our contact page. Mention which question it is and why you feel the answer is wrong. Then we go back to the textbook definition for that question and see. If it really has a second defensible answer, we correct the bank.
Which books should I read for research methodology?
First look at the reading list given in your own coursework syllabus. Two standard textbooks are C. R. Kothari and Gaurav Garg’s Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques and John W. Creswell’s Research Design. How the coursework papers and the RPE course are set up is explained in our coursework guide.
Evidence
Sources
- UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedures for Award of Ph.D. Degree) Regulations, 2022, clause 5(2)(ii): entrance test syllabus (PDF)
- NTA, UGC-NET June 2025 information bulletin: pattern of examination and marking scheme (PDF)
- UGC (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2018 (PDF)
Keep reading
Related guides and services
Research methodology MCQs with answers
Topic-wise practice questions with the answer and the reason, linked to a guide for each concept.
PhD coursework and the RPE course
Credits, the Research and Publication Ethics course, and how the coursework exam works.
How to write the research methodology chapter
Design, sampling, instruments, analysis and ethics, and how to justify each choice.
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