A botanist has recently developed an enzyme called NoGro. This enzyme acts as an herbicide by preventing cell growth in the leaves of a certain species of tree that is an invasive plant species in Florida. The botanist wants to test the effects of temperature on NoGro so that NoGro can be applied to the invasive tree under optimal conditions on Florida farms. After looking into the background of the study, you discover that the botanist performing this investigation is being paid by a company that will make a lot of money if NoGro proves to be useful at eradicating the invasive tree. How might this affect your view of the research in this experiment? (SC.912.N.1.1)
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1 point
You should not consider this an important experiment, because it was funded by industry and not a governmental agency.
You should approach the results of the experiment with skepticism and review the experimental methods and results carefully.
You should ignore the conflict of interest between the botanist and the company because all scientific endeavors are performed without bias.
You should immediately dismiss the entire experiment because the results were definitely skewed to make NoGro look more effective than it actually is.