Question

A group of scientists proposes an idea that a chemical compound will enable bean plants to grow faster. They grow one group of bean plants in the presence of the compound and another group in the absence of the compound. Then they write up a presentation about the experiment stating that the compound promotes plant growth. Which step is missing in their methodology?
a) a hypothesis
b) a control group
c) data analysis
d) a conclusion

Answer 1

Answer:

c) data analysis

Explanation:

In this case, the hypothesis would be that the chemical compound helps the growth of plants, which is the idea proposed by scientists.

Then they do the experiment, where they grow two bean plants. One is the control group, without the chemical compound and the other has the chemical compound. In this step, all measurements deemed necessary to measure growth are taken.

The next step would be data analysis. But this part is not included. This is where they see if their hypothesis was correct or not. Without this step we do not know if the compound works. The measurements taken in the previous step are the data analyzed in this step. In order to know if the chemical compound works, a statistical study is made of the data obtained to see if there was a significant difference between the growth of the plants with the chemical compound and the growth of the plants without the compound.

The last step is the conclusions. When scientists make the presentation, they are writing the conclusions, which is that the chemical compound helps plants growth. The data analysis should indicate that there was a significant difference in the growth of the plants with the compound compared to the growth of the plants to which the compound was not applied.