Reading Comprehension

PT124 · S4 · P3 · Q19 Research Commercialization

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The passages discuss relationships between business interests and university research

Passage A

Central Topic - researchers at universities sharing research vs. hiding it (to profit from) Purpose - Old vs. New Main Point- It used to be that discoveries made at universities were eagerly shared with the rest of the scientific community, but increasingly market forces are creating situations where these discoveries are buried, patented, and profited off of.

Passage B

Central Topic- the fruits of science: public goods or private commodities? Purpose - Old vs. New Main Point - It used to be that scientific discoveries were treated as public goods that couldn't and shouldn't be patented, but scientific discoveries in the "information economy" have gotten so lucrative and exploitable that the lines are blurrier.

Other Commentary

Since the passages have very similar topics and purposes, we might ask ourselves, "How were they different?"

It seems like Passage A had a slightly narrower scope targeted at universities, and it had a more discernibly negative tone about this new trend.

19.

Which one of the following statements is most strongly supported by both passages?

Many scientific researchers who previously
Out of Scope
Out of Scope: from university to biotech Although the biotech industry is mentioned in each passage, neither author speaks specifically of former university-researchers who left to work for the biotech industry.
3% picked this
Private biotechnology companies have invalidly
Too Strong: invalidly
Neither author accuses the biotech industry of having done something illegal / invalid. The authors are definitely lamenting the fact that we seem more driven by profit than by the free sharing of ideas, but they seem to act as though people are still acting within the system.
8% picked this
Because of the nature of
Fails A
As we saw in the right answer to Q15 and a wrong answer to Q16, the "discovery vs. invention" distinction is only raised in passage B.
15% picked this
Correct
In the past, scientists working
Why this is right
In passage A, the support isn't super explicit. We know there was collegial sharing of ideas and that research was a public good (1st paragraph), and that there has been "a reduction in the free sharing of methods/results" since the recent growth of industrial biotech (3rd paragraph). In passage B, in the first paragraph, it says that "no individual was entitled to restrict access" to the fruits of pure science (i.e. basic research).
Skill tested: Inference · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
73% picked this
Government-funded research in universities has
Opposite
The idea that private industry's goals are becoming more important when it comes to government funded research is the new, recent trend, not the traditional way.
2% picked this

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