As government agencies, faced with budget difficulties, reduce their funding for scientific research, a greater amount of such research is being funded by private foundations. This shift means that research projects likely to produce controversial results will almost certainly comprise a smaller proportion of all funded research projects, since private foundations, concerned about their public image, tend to avoid controversy.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
(A) Only research that is conducted without concern for the possibility of generating controversy is likely to produce scientifically valid results.
(B) Private foundations that fund scientific research projects usually recognize that controversial results from those projects cannot always be avoided.
(C) Scientists who conduct research projects funded by private foundations are unlikely to allow the concerns of the funding organizations to influence the manner in which they conduct the research.
(D) Many government agencies are more concerned about their public image than are most private foundations.
(E) Government agencies are more willing than are private foundations to fund research projects that are likely to produce controversial results.