PrepTest 152, Section 2, Question 17
Scientist: A number of errors can plague a(63 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(18 more words not shown)
- AResearchers normally give(27 more words not shown)
- BResearchers in the(22 more words not shown)
- CResearchers in the(25 more words not shown)
- DEven if researchers(25 more words not shown)
- EResearchers in the(22 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Fixing a miscalibrated instrument or a mistyped measurement makes sense. But deciding that a result 'looks wrong' can also introduce a problem: what if it only looks wrong because it doesn't fit what we expected?
The question asks us to explain why most corrections move the data closer to Jones's theory. One possible explanation is that Jones is right. If his theory accurately describes the world, fixing measurement errors could bring the data into better agreement with it.
What we’re looking for
Another possibility is that researchers want to please Jones. Perhaps he has influence over their funding, so they're reluctant to challenge him. That's a hypothetical explanation, not something we've been told about Jones. But it shows why the pattern doesn't automatically establish that his theory is correct.
Working the answers
- A
Giving favorable and unfavorable data equal weight when deciding whether to accept a theory doesn't explain why corrections mostly favor Jones. We need something that accounts for the direction of the corrections. Also, equal weight in that final decision is not the same thing as equal scrutiny while checking the data for errors.
- BCorrect
Here's a more specific mechanism: results that disagree with Jones get checked more closely. That gives researchers more opportunities to find and correct errors in those results than in results that already fit his theory. Corrections can therefore tend to move the data toward Jones even without researchers deliberately changing accurate results to please him. This doesn't say supportive data is never checked, or that corrected data is necessarily thrown out. The difference in scrutiny is enough to help explain the pattern.
- C
There are two gaps here. First, 'theories they accept' doesn't necessarily mean Jones's theory. Second, choosing research that is likely to support a theory is different from correcting data already collected. Even if researchers choose favorable experiments, that alone doesn't explain why the corrections move the results closer to Jones's predictions.
- D
Undetected errors may remain. But why would the errors researchers do correct mostly produce changes favorable to Jones? This tells us that checking data can be imperfect; it doesn't give the imperfection a direction.
- E
Other theories exist, but that doesn't explain why corrections favor this one. Those alternatives might be popular or unpopular; we aren't told. Their existence alone also doesn't establish that the researchers correcting the data reject Jones. We still need the connection between how data is checked and how it gets changed.
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