Sat practice Test #8 Answer Explanations

Choice B is the best answer. The last two sentences of the seventh 
paragraph identify a particular research scenario that Malhotra 
uncovered in his study: “Even more troubling to Malhotra was the fact 
that two scientists whose initial studies ‘didn’t work out’ went on to 
publish results based on a smaller sample. ‘The non-TESS version 
of the same study, in which we used a student sample, did yield 
fruit,’ noted one investigator.” Since Malhotra especially objected to 
these researchers’ suppression of data that produced null results and 
their subsequent publication of related data that were statistically 
significant, it can be inferred that the hypothetical situation to which 
he would most strongly object is one in which researchers publish 
their study results in a journal but exclude the portion of data that 
produced null results.
Choices A and D are incorrect because the seventh paragraph, 
which identifies a research scenario that Malhotra disapproved of, 
provides no basis for an inference that he would especially object 
to a team’s insisting on publishing null results in a top journal 
only (choice A) or a team’s expanding the scope of a study that had 
produced null results (choice D). Choice C is incorrect because 
although the first sentence of the seventh paragraph indicates 
Malhotra’s concern that failing to publish null results can mean 
that other researchers unwittingly replicate strategies that produced 
null results in prior studies, the paragraph goes on to identify 
other scenarios as being “worse” and “even more troubling” from 
Malhotra’s perspective.

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ANSwER ExPlANATIONS
| SAT Practice Test #8
QUESTION 17
Choice C is the best answer. The previous question asks about which 
hypothetical situation Malhotra would most strongly object to. The 
answer, that he would most strongly object to researchers’ reporting 
their findings but failing to disclose the null results, is best supported 
at the end of the seventh paragraph: “Even more troubling to Malhotra 
was the fact that two scientists whose initial studies ‘didn’t work out’ 
went on to publish results based on a smaller sample. ‘The non-TESS 
version of the same study, in which we used a student sample, did 
yield fruit,’ noted one investigator.”
Choices A, B, and D are incorrect because the cited lines don’t support 
the answer to the previous question about which situation Malhotra 
would most strongly object to. Instead, they cite another researcher’s 
attitude toward null results from his or her own study (choice A), 
compare the publication rate for studies that produce null results 
with that for studies that produce statistically significant results 
(choice B), and describe the recommendation by Malhotra and his team 
for the creation of a database to remedy problems resulting from the 
nonpublication of null results (choice D).
QUESTION 18