Perform background reading with a purpose. When you are doing this reading, make sure that everything you read is helping you define your topic. It is easy to get lost in information and suddenly find yourself far from your topic; remember that you're reading for research, not for pleasure. Every reading you do should refine your topic a little more than the one prior to it.
Study past examples of research papers on the topic you decide upon. These will alert you to things to look out for and things to avoid; they will also help you define your research strategy.
Establish a clear hypothesis. While the hypothesis can change, this does not mean it can be unclear. This is because your hypothesis determines the course of the future research; everything after it needs to be in relation to it, so if it is unclear it is leaving your research wide open to potentially becoming off-track or too broad.
Choose a research method and stick with it. Time you spend now researching the correct research method is time you will save in the future; three days of reading and researching methods is far less than three weeks of running into an avoidable problem after choosing the wrong method.
Follow your method clearly and record all results. Relate them all to your hypothesis: Do they support it, do they contradict it or are they unclear?