I've noticed that it is typical in social science articles to have a 500-word introduction, then have subsequent sections relatively equal in length. I find myself wanting to defy conventions and make some sections extremely long and some sections extremely short, but I don't see anyone else doing that. Is that prohibited?
Nothing is prohibited in research writing. Be guided roughly by averages, but adapt the averages to what your purposes are. For example, if you are mainly reviewing a new field, your introductory section will be long. If you are writing in a mature field, you can abbreviate your introduction heavily by simply listing the current expert papers in the field, and dismissing each in a sentence.
Your message should dictate your medium's length. Think of writing from your reader's viewpoint: How much of an introduction would your target audience wish to have? How much nitty-gritty detail of your method do they really need? Be reader-centric, not writer-centric.
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