1. Find the causal hypothesis at issue.
2. Find what kind of investigation it is.
3. There are experimental and control groups. State the difference in effect or cause between the experimental and control groups.
4. State the conclusion that you consider is warranted by the report.
Does jogging keep you fit? Two independent researchers interested in whether exercise prevents colds interviewed 20 volunteers about the frequency with which they caught colds. The volunteers, none of who exercised frequently, were then divided into two groups of 10, and one group participated in a six-month regimen of jogging three miles every other day. At the end of the six months, the frequency of colds among the joggers was compared both with that of the nonjoggers and with that of the joggers prior to the experiment. It was found that, compared with the nonjoggers, the joggers had 25% fewer colds. The record of colds among the joggers also declined in comparison with their own record prior to the exercise program.