After a Researcher Has Identified a Problem That (S)he Would

Multiple Choice

After a researcher has identified a problem that (s) he would like to explore,what is the next step in the scientific method?

A) Report the question to established professional journals so that other researchers can get to work trying to find an answer.
B) Gather data that can be used to generate a hypothesis about the research question.
C) Formulate a hypothesis, or an educated guess, as to what the answer to the research question will be.
D) Conduct background research to see what others have found about the question being explored.