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Practice Listening: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers ID: #46549 Medium Sweetener
Instructions ›
Listen to the recording and answer the question by selecting all the correct responses. You will need to select more than one response.
So, companies can influence the research agenda, which is basically all of the research available to us to make decisions. But companies can also influence individual studies, and we have shown this over and over with different types of industry funded studies. So, this is just one example. So, these are studies that ask the question, are artificial sweeteners associated with weight-loss? So, what do you think the answer is? It depends on who was funding the study. So, if you look at that first set of bars on the left, that has results under it, those are the actual findings of the data. The results of the study and what we see in blue is the artificial sweetener company sponsored ones. Over 70% of those had data showing that artificial sweeteners were associated with weight-loss, but less than 10% of those funded by other sponsors did in the orange bars; and then if you look at the conclusions, that's what the papers concluded, and all of the findings look more positive there due to spin. So, people are taking the results of the study and making them look better, but we still see that the bluish artificial sweetener sponsored studies are more likely to have a favourable finding.

Based on the audio, which of the following statements are true about the influence of company funding on research studies?

* Click on the correct answers

Result:

AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Option 1: "Companies can influence the research agenda."

Explanation: The text states that companies can influence the research agenda, which refers to the overall direction and focus of research available for decision-making. This aligns with the main idea presented in the text, confirming that corporate funding can shape what research is prioritized.

Option 2: "Company-funded studies are always unbiased."

Explanation: The text does not support the idea that company-funded studies are unbiased. In fact, it suggests the opposite by highlighting how funding can lead to favorable outcomes, indicating a potential bias in the results.

Option 3: "Companies can influence the outcomes of individual studies."

Explanation: The text explicitly mentions that companies can influence individual studies, demonstrating that the funding source can affect the results and conclusions drawn from research, which supports this option.

Option 4: "All studies funded by artificial sweetener companies show no association with weight loss."

Explanation: This statement contradicts the text, which indicates that over 70% of studies funded by artificial sweetener companies showed a positive association with weight loss. Therefore, the claim that all such studies show no association is incorrect.

Option 5: "The conclusions of company-sponsored studies may appear more positive due to spin."

Explanation: The text discusses how the conclusions of studies funded by artificial sweetener companies often appear more favorable due to 'spin,' which refers to the manipulation of results to present them in a better light. This directly supports the correctness of this option.

Option 6: "Research studies funded by companies always have the same outcome as those funded by other sponsors."

Explanation: The text indicates that studies funded by artificial sweetener companies yield different outcomes compared to those funded by other sponsors, thus this statement is incorrect as it suggests uniformity in results that does not exist.

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