Question

A scientist reads relevant literature and designs her experiment. She repeats her experiment several times and collects an entire set of data every time. As compared to a single data set, the multiple data sets lead her to modified conclusions.

How is skepticism important to the progress of science in this scenario?
It led her to incorporate new technology into the design of the experiment.
It led to the collection of the first data set.
It led to the collection of several complete data sets.
It helped with reading papers prior to the investigation.

Answer 1

It led to the collection of several complete data sets.

Skepticism makes scientists question whether one run is sufficient or if results are reproducible, so they repeat experiments and gather multiple full data sets to test reliability — which here produced new, modified conclusions.