What came to be called the "Out-bound experimenter" or Outbounder model by SRI, was designed and implemented in 1971-1972, at the ASPR, with Ingo Swann as subject, Janet Mitchell as monitor and Osis and Schmeidler as supervisors. In the "Out-Bound experimenter" model, a viewer would try to perceive the whereabouts of a researcher who had gone to a local target, say a park or museum. Vera Feldman and Erlander Harraldson were the first two Outbound researchers.

Stanford Research Institute (SRI), in Palo Alto, CA, was one of the first government-funded institutions to carry out the Outbounder Method. Their protocol included three or more people: outward bound observers or beacons, a subject or percipient, and an interviewer. The outbound beacons would visit and make notes of a remote geographic location selected at random from a set of remote targets. The percipient would attempt to view what the beacons were seeing and doing. The percipient would be questioned by the interviewer and the percipient would respond verbally and draw pictures to illustrate their perceptions. At a later date, the location descriptions from the beacons and percipient were matched up by human judges. The Outbounder Method is an easy one to follow.

Coordinate Remote Viewing was developed at SRI. Using only geographic coordinates, and later series of random numbers and letters, adept remote viewers, such as Ingo Swann, were able to identify remote geographic locations. It appears that a random set of numbers, as well as geographic coordinates, are sometimes all that are needed to access the information about a distant location or event. However, it was decided that simple longitude and latitude coordinates might be memorized, so an encrypted coordinate system was implemented that overcame this problem.

Controlled Remote Viewing (CRV) was developed by Ingo Swann as a particular type of experimental protocol or "control". CRV is now taught as a protocol that is used to access information for a variety of applications, such as finding missing people and children, business applications, and archeological work.

CRV is carried out as a pen and paper, sequential series of stages or phases that allow the viewer increasing contact with the target site. In the later stages, extensive sketching and 3-D modeling of the target site are produced.

Many of the professionals, who were trained by Ingo Swann, now teach CRV. Other RV groups teach modifications of the more formal CRV, and refer to their methods as Technical Remote Viewing (TRV) and Scientific Remote Viewing (SRV).

Extended Remote Viewing, or ERV,is another method of remote viewing used to access information about hidden targets. ERV, in its simplest definition, is the access of hidden information using an altered state of consciousness.

Extended Remote Viewing was developed at the U.S. Army's Fort Meade Remote Viewing Unit by F. Holmes (Skip) Atwater. According to Skip Atwater, "Extended", in this respect, means the length of time that the viewer was in an altered state and accessing the target. Currently, ERV has come to have a generic definition i.e. any remote viewing that is done within a defined protocol, in an altered state of consciousness.

ERV generally requires a Monitor to help the viewer stay in the required state of consciousness and to guide the viewer towards the target site. The Monitor's role is to elicit verbal information from the viewer, keep them on task, help the viewer maintain the required altered state, and, using information already accessed by the viewer, gives the viewer Movement Exercises around the target to access further information. The Monitor does not ask leading questions and is usually "blind" to the identity of the target. Both ERV and CRV can both be carried out, by an experienced viewer, without a Monitor. Anything that uses a pre-stated methodology and utilizes an altered state of consciousness can be termed ERV.

Associative Remote Viewing (ARV) is the application of RV to attempt to foretell a question with multiple outcomes. It is typically used with Stocks and Stock Futures but can be used for projects that use numbers or have an ambiguous outcome. There are only a few groups that have used this method successfully over an extended period of time but many others have used it in controlled experiments, including the raising of monies for good causes.

ARV works by remote viewing a 'pool' of 2 or 3 items, only one of which will be shown to the viewer at the allotted time. It is entirely possible to RV the alternate item by mistake so precautions are taken to keep this hidden. This method is often used precognitively to predict an outcome, such as the rise and fall of the stock market.