Self-study
A recent study involved feeding a high-salt diet to a rat colony. █ ███ ██████ █████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ████████ █████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ████████ ████████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ ███████ █████ █████████ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ████ █████ █████████ ███ █ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ █████████ ████ █████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ████ █████████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ █████ ████████ ██ █████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that high-salt diets are linked to high blood pressure in rats. This is due to an experiment showing most rats fed a high-salt diet had high blood pressure after a few months.
Notable Assumptions
Since the health of the rats before starting the high-salt diets is never specified, the author must assume that fewer rats had high blood pressure before starting the high-salt diets. Otherwise there isn't even necessarily a correlation between salt and blood pressure.
Furthermore, if there is a correlation between high-salt diets and high blood pressure, the author assumes that this indicates a causal link. This means the author doesn’t believe the high blood pressure was caused by some third factor.
3.
The answer to which one ██ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ ████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████████ █████ ██████
a
How much more ████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ █ █████ ██████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ███ █████████ █████
We know these are high-salt diets. We don’t need to know exactly how much less salt a rat’s normal diet contains.
b
Did the high █████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██████ ███████ ██ █████ ████ ████ █████████ ███
We’re not interested in the effects of high blood pressure. We care about the link between high-salt diets and high blood pressure in rats.
c
What percentage of █████████ █████████ ███ ████████ ████ ██ █████████ ██████
We don’t care about how common high-salt diets are. We care about the link between those diets and high blood pressure.
d
How many rats ██ ███ ██████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ████ █████ ████████ ██████ ███ █████ ██████
If the same proportions of rats had high blood pressure before the high-salt diet versus after the high-salt diet, then the link between such diets and high blood pressure is greatly weakened. If not, then high-salt diets would seem to be linked with high blood pressure.
Plausibility
Plausibility
Presenting evidence that corroborates (in Strengthen) or conflicts (in Weaken) with the author's hypothesized explanation or the predictions that follow from that explanation.
e
Have other species ██ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ ████ █████
We’re not interested in other rodents. We’re only concerned with the link between high-salt diets and high blood pressure in rats.