When Study Results Indicate That a Prior Hypothesis Must Be

Multiple Choice

When study results indicate that a prior hypothesis must be rejected, some researchers will explore the data to see if unanticipated relationships might make for more interesting results. In principle this is not a good idea because ______.

A) it takes too much time and energy to dredge the data, and this costs a lot of money
B) it is unlikely to uncover evidence in support of the rejected hypothesis
C) unanticipated results might be based on chance alone
D) the data must obviously be flawed if it cannot support the hypothesis