Self-study
In one study of a particular plant species, 70 percent of the plants studied were reported as having patterned stems. ██ █ ██████ ██████ █████ ███████ █████████████ ███ ████ ████████████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ ████ ████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why did the second study report a smaller percent of plants as having patterned stems than did the earlier study, even though the two studies covered approximately the same geographical area?
Objective
The correct answer should help differentiate the second study from the first in a way that could lead to a smaller proportion of the plants being reported to have patterned stems.
9.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████████ █████████ ██████
a
The first study ███ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ██ █████ ████ █████████
How populous the plant was during the study doesn’t impact the proportion of those plants with patterned stems. In the 1st study, 70% were reported to have patterned stems, and in the 2nd, that % went down. The number of plants in each study doesn’t impact % with patterned stems.
b
The first study, ███ ███ ███ ██████ ██████ ████ █████████ ███████████ █████ █████████ █████ ██ █████ █████ ████████
We’re trying to explain the decrease in % reported to have patterned stems in a particular species of plants. What happened with other plant species has no impact.
c
The second study ████████ █████████████ ███████████ ████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ███ █████ █████ ████
The comparative number of plants in the studies doesn’t impact the proportion of those plants with patterned stems. In the 1st study, 70% were reported to have patterned stems. In the 2nd, that % went down. The number of plants in each study doesn’t impact % with patterned stems.
d
The first study ████ █ ███████ ██████████ ██ ████████████
A broader definition of “patterned” in the first study means that in the first study, any given plant was more likely to be considered “patterned” than in the second study. This could explain why the % reported to have patterned stems decreased in the second study.
e
The focus of ███ ██████ █████ ███ █████████ ██████ █████ ███ █████ █████ █████████ ███████████ █████ █████████ █████ ████ ██ █ █████████ █████
Whether counting patterned stems was a primary or secondary goal doesn’t explain why the % reported to have patterned stems decreased in the second study. We have no reason to think the focus of the study would change the likelihood a given plant would be counted as patterned.