A specialist who provides substantive advice on research methodology — study design, sampling, instrument selection, analytic strategy, or implementation approach — to a research project on which they are not a primary investigator.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
A qualitative methodologist consulted to design the interview protocol for a mixed-methods study, listed as an author under CRediT 'Methodology'

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
A statistician who only ran a single test is performing statistical consultancy, not broader methodology consultancy

Editorial commentary

Distinct from statistical consultancy (which focuses on analysis) by spanning the full methodological design. Where the methodological contribution materially shaped the work, authorship under CRediT ‘Methodology’ is warranted; otherwise the consultant is named in acknowledgements.

References

NISO CRediT Standard (ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022)
EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines

Also known as

Methods consultant · Research design consultant

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Methodology consultant"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/methodology-consultant" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/methodology-consultant",
  "name": "Methodology consultant",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/methodology-consultant",
  "description": "A specialist who provides substantive advice on research methodology — study design, sampling, instrument selection, analytic strategy, or implementation approach — to a research project on which they are not a primary investigator.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/credit-extensions#set",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/methodology-consultant",
  "sameAs": [
    "Methods consultant",
    "Research design consultant"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
  },
  "dateModified": "2026-05-21T02:00:07",
  "inLanguage": "en"
}

Referenced across the research world

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