Recall Pennebaker and Francis' hypotheses:

• Pennebaker and Francis predicted that college students who write about their emotional experiences associated with starting college would have better health and academic outcomes than students who don't write about adjusting to college.
• Cognitive changes that take place in students who write about their emotional experiences can account for the beneficial outcomes.

The next step is to define the concepts in the hypotheses. What, specifically, do we mean by emotional experiences and better health and academic outcomes? What do we mean by cognitive changes?

Operational definition for writing about emotional experiences

Operational definition for health outcomes

Operational definition for academic outcomes

Operational definition for cognitive change

Are these valid and reliable measures of health and academic outcomes and cognitive change?