Identify the variables being investigated. Where the temporal order of events or the direction of prediction is obvious, the variable labels are sometimes referred to "independent" and "dependent." However, you will not have a true independent variable as no manipulation of a variable will occur.

1. Provide operational definitions for the variables being investigated. Operational definitions are necessary for the purpose of measuring your results. For example, if you wanted to determine the impact of a new vitamin on college students' ability to run, it would be critical to your experiment to operationally define "run." The operational definition for "run" might be "to move on foot for a distance of 1 mile at a minimum speed of 4 mph."
2. Outline two different ways that you could go about testing your hypothesis.
3. Identify the type of data that each approach might yield.
4. Lastly, consider what confounds may impact your study.