While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
● In a 2014 study, researchers Maria de Carvalho-Ricardo, Wilson Uieda, and Renata Cristina B. Fonseca wanted to explore the effects of ingestion by bats on the germination of Solanum granuloso-leprosum seeds in Brazil.
● The team of researchers tested 250 Solanum granuloso-leprosum seeds that had been ingested by great fruit-eating bats.
● Of these, 26 seeds (10%) germinated.
● As a control, de Carvalho-Ricardo et al. tested 250 Solanum granuloso-leprosum seeds that had not been ingested by great fruit-eating bats.
● Of these, 140 seeds (56%) germinated.
The student wants to describe the study’s research methodology. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
Explanation
Answer: C) The team of researchers tested the germination of 250 Solanum granuloso-leprosum seeds that had been ingested by great fruit-eating bats and 250 Solanum granuloso-leprosum seeds that had not been ingested.
Goal: Describe the study's research methodology.
Why? Methodology describes how the study was conducted. C details the experimental design: two groups of 250 seeds, ingested vs. control.
Traps:
- A) States results → not methodology
- B) States finding → not methodology
- D) States research goal → not methodology