Characteristics of the requests related to methods, data and theory (specifications of table 3)
| Type of request | Examples of students’ responses | No. of requests | % |
| Methods | 471 | 100 | |
| Rudimentary | How was the study conducted? | 80 | 17 |
| Design | Did they use a control group? How long did the study last? | 60 | 13 |
| Agent delivery (procedure) | How much corn is necessary to eat? How often? | 100 | 21 |
| Participants | How many were tested? Who participated in the study? What was their eating habits? | 230 | 49 |
| Measures | Did they measure the participants’ blood sugar? | 1 | >1 |
| Data/ s tatistics | 191 | 100 | |
| Rudimentary | We need the results. | 111 | 58 |
| Absolute nature of data* | For how many did this (not) work? | 32 | 17 |
| Comparative nature of data* | What is the reduction in risk? How large was the effect? | 43 | 23 |
| Duration of effect | Does it work over time? | 5 | 3 |
| Theory/ a gent | 149 | 100 | |
| Identification | We need to know what corn is composed of (nutrients). | 2 | 1 |
| Agent mechanisms | What ingredient in corn prevents type II diabetes? Why does corn prevent type II diabetes? | 117 | 79 |
| (Side) effects | Is there any side effect of eating corn? | 23 | 15 |
| Alternative agents | Do other corn products have this effect? | 7 | 5 |
*For the dependent variable (here: diabetes risk).