Self-study
Support The number of applications for admission reported by North American Ph.D. programs in art history has declined in each of the last four years. ██ ███ ████████ ████ ████ ████ ████████ █████ ██████ █████ ████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ █ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that interest among recent North American college/university graduates in choosing art history as a career has declined over the last four years. This is based on the fact that the reported number of applications to North American Ph.D. programs in art history has gone down in each of the last four years.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that there’s no other explanation for the decline in reported applications for admission than a decline in North American college/university graduates’ interest in a career in art history.
26.
Each of the following, if █████ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████
a
The number of █████ ████████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ █████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ████████████ ███ █████████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██████
This provides a potential alternate explanation for the decline in reported applications. Fewer Ph.D. programs reporting data would naturally lead to a lower number of applications reported.
b
The average age ██ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██████
The potential impact of an increase in average age of applicants is unclear. If anything, this might suggest fewer “recent” (and therefore, on average younger) graduates are applying, which is consistent with the author’s reasoning.
c
The number of ██████ ██ ████ █████ ████████████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ █████████ █████████████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ██████
This raises the possibility that the data the author relies on has become less reliable. The decline in reported applications may not reflect an actual decline in applications.
d
The number of █████ ████████ █████████ ███████ ██ ████ ███████████ ███████ █ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██████
This raises a potential alternate explanation for the decline in reported applications. Maybe interest in pursuing art history as a career is just as high, but more graduates are being hired directly by employers in the industry rather than pursuing a Ph.D.
e
The percentage of ████████████ ███ █████████ ████████ ████ ███████ █████ ███████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ████████ █████████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██████
This raises a potential alternate explanation for the decline in reported applications. The decline might not be coming from North American graduates, but from people outside North America. Thus, it doesn’t necessarily reflect decline in the interest of North American graduates.