The basis of what we know about nutrition is derived from research. The scientific method underlies how research is conducted. The following figure shows the steps in the scientific method.

The steps of the scientific method.

Steps in the Scientific Method

• The first step is to come up with a scientific or research question that will be interesting to investigate.
• Research is done to examine other experiments that might impact the question.
• Based on the research question, a hypothesis or an educated guess is formulated.
• The next step is to design and conduct the experiment. A good design should take into account what has been done previously. Thus, a thorough review of methods and results published previously should be undertaken. This will help prevent making the same mistakes and save a lot of time performing the research.
• Perform the experiment/research and collect results and draw conclusions.
• If the hypothesis is not supported, then a new hypothesis/research question should be created and an experiment conducted accordingly.

Ultimately researchers hope to publish their research in peer-reviewed journals.