Study the relationship between taste and smell from books, science journals and online at websites related to science and the five senses. Sampling expert opinion will provide background data.
Take notes on the data from your sources. Use a notebook to keep track of information such as book title, author, publisher and copyright date. Record page numbers for quotes, statistics or scientific data of special interest.
Narrow down the information from your background research. Determine which information is most relevant to smell and taste relationships. If you want to focus on a specific area of taste and smell relationships, highlight the most relevant data.
Create survey questions relating to taste and smell. For example, ask "How does the smell of a food make you feel about the taste" or "Does the way food smells affect the taste" or "If you taste something before smelling it, will the taste determine if it smells good or bad?" Ask at least 10 to 20 questions relating to taste and smell. If you have a specific study focus, make sure at least half of the questions relate to it.
Ask others to fill out the survey. For example, if you are doing the research for a class, ask your classmates, other classes at the school and teachers to participate.
Record responses from the survey. For example, write out the common answers you receive and note unusual answers. Organize the information by grouping similar responses. If your survey provides statistical data, you may be able to graph the responses.
Ask volunteers to sign up for your experiment. Get as many volunteers as possible and plan at least two to three days to complete the experiment.
Set up the research experiment. You'll need blindfolds, small cups, food and drink samples and a nose plug.
Place blindfolds and nose plugs on volunteers. Put a sample directly into each volunteer's mouth and ask them to describe the taste. Repeat with all of the samples. Record responses in a notebook.
Repeat the experiment, but remove the nose plugs. Ask for a second description and record the differences as described by the volunteers.