501 Critical Reading Questions

(Sean Pound) #1
Hence allscientific knowledge is always in a state of flux, for at any
time new evidence could be present[ed] that contradicts long-held
hypotheses.
The experiments that reject a hypothesis should be performed by
many different scientists to guard against bias, mistake, misunderstand-
ing, and fraud. Scientific journals use a process of peer review, in which
scientists submit their results to a panel of fellow scientists (who may or
may not know the identity of the writer) for evaluation. Peer review may
well have turned up problems and led to a closer examination of exper-
imental evidence for many scientists. Much embarrassment, and wasted
effort worldwide, has been avoided by objective peer review, in addition
to continuing the use and proving the necessity of the scientific method.


  1. Which step in the process of scientific method do lines 63–72
    speak of?
    a. operational definition
    b.verification
    c. evaluation
    d.phenomenon
    e.hypothesizing

  2. What is the tone of this passage?
    a. enigmatic
    b.apathetic
    c. abstruse
    d.instructive
    e.revealing

  3. In line 63 the word falsificationismmost nearly means
    a. validation.
    b.qualification.
    c. confirmation.
    d.facilitation.
    e.refutation.

  4. Which statement is FALSE?
    a. Reproducible results can be obtained by experiments performed
    by a variety of scientists.
    b.An auxiliary hypothesis can be made to correspond to the facts.
    c. Einstein’s theory of relativity makes space and time predictions.
    d.Peer review is usually not a valuable tool for scientists.
    e.Experiments are a necessary element in the scientific method.


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