方|かた

Attached to a verb stem, 方 (かた) forms a noun meaning "the way of doing" or "how to do" something, e.g. 読み方 "way of reading."

Neutral and very common in everyday speech and writing. The result is a noun phrase, so it often appears as the object of verbs like 教える, 知る, or 紹介する (読み方を教える), and as the subject of 分かる (読み方が分かる). Unlike どうやって, which is an adverbial question word, 〜方 names the method itself as a noun.

• より〜ほうがN5In「より〜ほうが」,「ほう」expresses which side has the higher degree in a comparison, attaching to nouns + の, verbs in dictionary form / ta-form, etc.; by contrast,「方」reads「かた」and attaches to the masu-stem to express how to do something. The meanings differ, so they cannot be swapped.
• ほうがいいN5「方」reads「かた」and attaches to the masu-stem to form a '-way-of-doing' noun;「ほうがいい」reads「ほう」and attaches to ta-form, nai-form, nouns + の, etc., giving advice like 'you'd better...' or comparisons like 'it's better if...'. They cannot be swapped.
• どうやってN5「どうやって」is a question word placed directly before a verb to make questions such as「どうやって書きますか」, and it does not function as a noun itself;「方」, on the other hand, turns an action into a noun. When asking about methods, both can often be rephrased as each other, e.g.「書き方を教えてください」.
• とおりN3「方」attaches to the masu-stem to show how to do something, as in「読み方」;「とおり」attaches to verbs in dictionary form or ta-form, or takes the forms「名詞のとおり」or「名詞どおり」, meaning 'according to ~' or 'just as ~', so the two cannot be swapped.
• ように/ようなN3「〜方」attaches to the verb masu-form and becomes a noun expressing the method of doing something;「ように/ような」attaches to nouns + の, verbs in plain form, etc., expressing metaphor, examples, or 'just as...', functioning adverbially or attributively. The two cannot be swapped.

より〜ほうが and ほうがいい use 方 read ほう for comparison or advice, while どうやって is a question word asking "how" rather than a noun meaning "way of doing." とおり means "in the same way as" something said or done, and ように/ような mean "like" or "so that"; neither turns a verb into a method noun.