POST-MIDTERM EXAMINATION: 2021-2022

English Core (301)

Grade: 11 Marks: 20
Date: 11-01-2022 Time: 1 hour

PART A
1. Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow:
The question of what to do with null results—when researchers fail to see an effect that
should be detectable—has long been hotly debated among those conducting medical
trials, where the results can have a big impact on lives and corporate bottom lines.
More recently, the debate has spread to the social and behavioural sciences, which also
have the potential to sway public and social policy. “Yes, it’s true that null results are
not as exciting,” political scientist Gary King of Harvard University says. “But I suspect
another reason they are rarely published is that there are many, many ways to produce
null results by messing up. So, they are much harder to interpret.”

In a recent study, Stanford political economist Neil Malhotra and two of his graduate
students examined every study since 2002 that was funded by a competitive grants
program called TESS (Time-sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences). Malhotra’s team
tracked down working papers from most of the experiments that weren’t published, and
for the rest asked grantees what had happened to their results. In their e-mailed
responses, some scientists cited deeper problems with a study or more pressing matters—
but many also believed the journals just wouldn’t be interested. “The unfortunate reality
of the publishing world [is] that null effects do not tell a clear story,” said one scientist.
Said another, “Never published, definitely disappointed to not see any major effects.”
Their answers suggest to Malhotra that rescuing findings from the file drawer will
require a shift in expectations. “What needs to change is the culture—the author’s
belief about what will happen if the research is written up,” he says.

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Not unexpectedly, the statistical strength of the findings made a huge difference in
whether they were ever published. Overall, 42% of the experiments produced
statistically significant results.

Of those, 62% were ultimately published, compared with 21% of the null results. However,
the Stanford team was surprised that researchers didn’t even write up 65% of the
experiments that yielded a null finding. Scientists not involved in the study praise its
“clever” design.

“ It’s a very important paper” that “starts to put numbers on things we want to
understand,” says economist Edward Miguel of the University of California, Berkeley.
He and others note that the bias against null studies can waste time and money when
researchers devise new studies replicating strategies already found to be ineffective.
Worse, if researchers publish significant results from similar experiments in the future,
they could look stronger than they should because the earlier null studies are ignored.
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. A registry for data generated by all experiments would address these
in search of more publishable results. problems, the authors argue. They say it should
also include a “preanalysis” plan, which would help deter researchers from tweaking
their analyses after the data are collected.

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 Based on your understanding of the passage answer the following questions by
choosing the correct options: 1x5=5
i. The passage primarily serves to

a) discuss recent findings concerning scientific studies and dispute a widely held
belief about the publication of social science research.
b) explain a common practice in the reporting of research studies and summarize
a study that provides support for a change to that practice.
c) describe the shortcomings in current approaches to medical trials and
recommend the implementation of a government database.
d) provide context as part of a call for stricter controls on social science research
and challenge publishers to alter their mindsets.

ii. As used here, the antonym for “strength” is

a) frailty.
b) toughness.
c) weakness.
d) significance.

iii. The passage indicates that a problem with failing to document null results is that

a) the results of related studies will be misleading.

b) researchers may overlook promising areas of study.
c) mistakes in the collection of null results may be overlooked.
d) the bias against null results will be disregarded.
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iv. Based on the passage, to which of the following hypothetical situations would
Malhotra most strongly object?

a) A research team refuses to publish null results in anything less than a top
journal.
b) A research team excludes the portion of data that produced null results when
reporting its results in a journal.
c) A research team unknowingly repeats a study that produced null results for
another research team.
d) A research team performs a follow-up study that expands the scope of an
initial study that produced null results.

v. According to the graph, social science studies yielding strong results were

a) unwritten over 50 percent of the time.

b) unpublished but written 50 percent of the time.
c) published in a top journal approximately 20 percent of the time.
d) published in a non-top journal almost 80 percent of the time.

2. Design a poster for a School Fete. You may use slogans. The proceeds of the Fete will go 3
to a charity.

PART B

3. Answer the following questions in 30-40 words: 2x2=4

a. How does the rain help life on earth?
b. What kind of bride was Ranga looking for and why?

4. Answer the following questions in 120 – 150 words: 2x4=8

a. Explain how rain and its cyclic movement is compared to a poem in ‘The Voice of
the Rain’.
b. With reference to the story, ‘Ranga’s Marriage’ describe how Shyama, the
narrator uses manipulation to make Ranga fall in love with Ratna and marry her?