Franchesca read about Mrazek et al.'s (2013) study in which students scored higher on the GRE after completing a 2-week mindfulness training course. Franchesca is interested in the idea that practicing mindfulness improves the ability to control one's mind from wondering. She decides to conduct a similar study in which she has students practice either mindfulness or read and then take a test of attention. Franchesca predicts that, in line with the original study, students who had practiced mindfulness would perform better on the attention test. She runs the study and finds that the results match her prediction. Franchesca's process of conducting a study to evaluate whether the effects of practicing mindfulness extend to tests of attention can best be described as which of the following?
a. journal to journalism
b. applied research
c. the theory-data cycle
d. the peer-review process