add methodology page

index.rst

@@ -9,10 +9,12 @@ documentation websites.
 Field research
 --------------
 
+* :ref:`Methodology <methodology>`
 * :ref:`Search boxes <searchbox>`
 
 .. toctree::
    :maxdepth: 1
    :hidden:
 
+   methodology
    searchbox

methodology.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+.. _methodology:
+
+===========================
+Field research: methodology
+===========================
+
+This page outlines how I approach all my field research.
+
+--------------------------------------------------------
+Heavy bias towards docs sites for computer professionals
+--------------------------------------------------------
+
+I write docs for software engineers. My research is heavily biased towards
+docs sites for these people. The docs sites for people in other domains
+are under very different constraints. However, over time I may try to sample
+docs sites from other domains precisely because they might approach the same
+problem very differently than docs sites for software engineers.
+
+-----------------
+Docs site "types"
+-----------------
+
+I aim to get a wide-range of samples from different "types" of docs sites.
+The docs sites for code libraries, CLI tools, programming languages, and
+platforms are all under very different constraints and therefore often solve
+the same problem in very different ways.
+
+-------------
+Popular sites
+-------------
+
+I lean towards studying docs sites for products that I know to be popular. The
+rationale is that these sites essentially condition us around what's normal
+and what's not normal for a docs site.