PrepTest 38, Section 2, Question 3
An anthropologist hypothesized that a certain medicinal powder contained a significant amount of the deadly toxin T. When the test she performed for the presence of toxin T was negative, the anthropologist did not report the results. A chemist who nevertheless learned about the test results charged the anthropologist with fraud. The anthropologist, however, countered that those results were invalid because the powder had inadvertently been tested in an acidic solution.
An anthropologist hypothesized that a certain medicinal powder contained a significant amount of the deadly toxin T. When the test she performed for the presence of toxin T was negative, the anthropologist did not report the results. A chemist who nevertheless learned about the test results charged the anthropologist with fraud. The anthropologist, however, countered that those results were invalid because the powder had inadvertently been tested in an acidic solution.
An anthropologist hypothesized that a certain medicinal powder contained a significant amount of the deadly toxin T. When the test she performed for the presence of toxin T was negative, the anthropologist did not report the results. A chemist who nevertheless learned about the test results charged the anthropologist with fraud. The anthropologist, however, countered that those results were invalid because the powder had inadvertently been tested in an acidic solution.
An anthropologist hypothesized that a certain medicinal powder contained a significant amount of the deadly toxin T. When the test she performed for the presence of toxin T was negative, the anthropologist did not report the results. A chemist who nevertheless learned about the test results charged the anthropologist with fraud. The anthropologist, however, countered that those results were invalid because the powder had inadvertently been tested in an acidic solution.
In the absence of the anthropologist's reply, which one of the following principles, if established, would most support the chemist's charge?
Reporting results for an experiment that was not conducted and reporting a false result for an actual experiment are both instances of scientific fraud.
Scientists can commit fraud and yet report some disconfirmations of their hypotheses.
Scientists can neglect to report some disconfirmations of their hypotheses and yet be innocent of fraud.
Scientists commit fraud whenever they report as valid any test result they know to be invalid.
Scientists who neglect to report any experiment that could be interpreted as disconfirming their hypotheses have thereby committed fraud.
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