Results That Won't Repeat

C2 Proficiency · Word Formation · Cambridge Ready original exercise

For questions 1–8, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the lines to form a word that fits in the gap in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).

SETTLE

ALARM

FABRICATE

SIGNIFY

RELY

ORIGIN

REQUIRE

PARADOX

For much of the last century, a finding published in a respected journal was treated as (0) ___ , a brick that later researchers could build on without stopping to inspect it. In recent years, however, attempts to repeat celebrated experiments have proved deeply (1) ___ for the scientific community: an (2) ___ large proportion of findings simply fail to appear a second time. The causes are less sinister than they might seem. Outright (3) ___ of data is rare. Far more common are small samples and the quiet habit of trying analysis after analysis until something statistically (4) ___ emerges. A publishing culture that rewards novelty over (5) ___ has made matters worse, since journals have long been reluctant to print studies that merely repeat earlier work, dismissing them as (6) ___ . Reformers now urge researchers to state their hypotheses before collecting any data, a simple (7) ___ that makes it far harder to dress up a lucky accident as a discovery. Painful as the crisis has been, a field willing to expose its own failings is, (8) ___ , more trustworthy than one that never looks.

Results That Won't Repeat

QUESTION

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