Based on your sociological research expertise, you have been hired as a consultant for Columbia Basin College. The college is interested in learning more about why some students do not return to school following their freshman year. You are proposing to address the issue by collecting real data in order to determine more about the issue. Identify and operationalize an independent and the dependent variable, then put them together in a hypothesis. **To operationalize your variable means to put it into very specific terms so we can collect data about it and compare. For example, if your variable is speed of a car, you would operationalize your variable as speed in miles per hour. Your variables should be in measurable units **A hypothesis is a statement of a possible relationship between your variables. It is a statement, not a question.