Self-study
A recent study of several hundred female physicians showed that Support their tendency to develop coronary disease was inversely proportional to their dietary intake of two vitamins, folate and B6. ███ ███████████ █████████ ████ ██████ ███ ██ ███████ ███ ███████████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ██████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The researchers hypothesize that folate and B6 hinders the development of heart disease in women. This is based on a phenomenon shown in a recent study of female physicians: the more folate and B6 they had in their diet, the less likely they were to develop heart disease (and vice versa).
Notable Assumptions
The researchers assume that it is the folate and B6 in the female physicians’ diets that are preventing them from developing heart disease, as opposed to some other factor(s) in their diets or lifestyles.
9.
Which one of the following ██████ ██ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ████████████ ███████████
a
The foods that ███████ ███████████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ ██ ████ ███████ ███████████ ███████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ████ ███████ █████ ████████
This weakens the researchers’ conclusion. It attacks their assumption that the B6 and folate are the critical factors that inhibit heart disease in the female physicians, as opposed to some other factor—in this case, significant amounts of nonvitamin nutrients.
Alternate explanation
Alternate explanation
Weaken: Introduce or support an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
Strengthen: Helps to eliminate an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
b
It is very ████████ ████ █ ████████ ████████ █████ ███████ ████████ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ███ ██ ████
This does not affect the argument. It may be that the researchers’ hypothesis is very unlikely, but that alone doesn’t make it any less convincing.
c
Physicians are more ██████ ████ █████████████ ██ ████ █ █████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████
This does not affect the argument. While physicians’ knowledge about how diet impacts health may influence their dietary choices, it should not affect how the vitamins in their diet influence their health, which is what the study is about.
Failed alternate explanation
Failed alternate explanation
Weaken Qs: Answers that try to introduce an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to explain a different phenomenon.
Strengthen Qs: Answers that try to eliminate an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to eliminate an explanation for a different phenomenon.
d
The physicians in ███ █████ ███ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ███ ███████████ █████ ███████████
This does not affect the argument. (D) does not offer reason to suspect that physicians with preexisting heart conditions confounded the study’s results—we would have to assume that they also didn’t eat a lot of B6 and folate for there to be any potential weakening effect.
Failed alternate explanation
Failed alternate explanation
Weaken Qs: Answers that try to introduce an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to explain a different phenomenon.
Strengthen Qs: Answers that try to eliminate an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to eliminate an explanation for a different phenomenon.
e
The vitamins folate ███ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ████ ██████
This does not affect the argument. The amount of folate and B6 in most foods can be minimal without weakening the researcher’s hypothesis that they still have the effect of inhibiting the development of heart disease.