What are the exact difference between research methods and research methodology?
I would differentiate this way. Research methods are the different approaches one might use to a study a phenomena whereas research methodology is the study of research methods! In general, "ology" means "the study of." I hope this is helpful!
I agree with James E. McLean that research methods are concrete tools for either collecting or analyzing data, while methodology concerns more abstract issues of why we do research the way we do.
One way of answering the question of the distinction between methodology and methods refers to debates in the philosophy of science or science studies. This can be exemplified by the philosophy of 'critical rationalism'.
Imre Lakatos' "Methodology of Scientific Research Programs" marks one of the most important follow-ups of critical rationalism. In it, the scholar of Karl R. Popper deals with the question of progress in scientific knowledge, whereby he - similar to his mentor - regards the rationality maxim of scientific genesis as given. With his concept of scientific research programmes, Lakatos is able to minimize the deficits of Popper's research logic, according to which scientific theories and systems are to be rejected on the basis of a single error.
His methodological conceptualization of clever falsificationism is essentially an extension of Popper's methodological falsificationism. Due to the fact that Lakatos attaches greater importance to the development of theories ("theory series"), the confirmation of scientific theories, in contrast to Popper, is evidently more important than their falsification. If an empirical basis comes into conflict with a theory, a theory can be described as "falsified"; however, it is not falsified in the sense that it is refuted. After all, there is the possibility that the theory could still be "true".
In this sense, the methodology is arranged on an abstract meta-theoretical, meta-conceptual level, while the methods are located on a concrete-operational level of a research question or study.
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