Self-study
Statistician: Two major studies found no causal link between medical procedure X and disorder Y, but Conclusion these studies are flawed. ███ █████ ██████ ██ █████████████ ███ ███ █████████ ████████████ ███ ███ █████ █████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ███ █████████ █████████████ ███ ███████ ████████ █ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███████████ ███████████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ██████ ██ █ █████ ██ ██████ ████ █ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████████ ██
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The statistician identifies a problem with two studies: These studies are flawed because their sample sizes are too small to provide useful data, based on the prevalence rate of disorder Y.
Identify Conclusion
The conclusion is the statistician’s criticism of the studies: “these studies are flawed.”
5.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████████████ █████████
a
Contrary to the ████████ ██ ███ █████ ████████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ █████ ████ ████████████ ██████ ████████████
The statistician doesn’t go so far as to make this claim. She merely claims that the studies are flawed, without taking a position on whether procedure X actually does cause disorder Y.
b
Two studies that ██████████ ██ ██████ ████ ███████ █████████ █ ███ ███████████ ███ ████████
This is a good paraphrase of the conclusion. “Unsound” and “flawed” both get at the same point: the studies are unreliable.
c
Researchers should conduct ██████████████ ███████ ██ ████████████ ██ █████████ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ████████ ██████ ████ ████████████
There’s no recommendation in this argument.
Also, the statistician doesn’t suggest that studies of procedure X and disorder Y aren’t extensive enough in general. She only says that these two particular studies aren’t extensive enough.
d
The two studies █████ ███ ███ █████ █ ██████████ ██ ██ ███████ ████████ █ ███████ ████ █████████ ██
This is contradicted by the statistician’s claim at the top of the stimulus: the studies found no causal link. Then, she constructs an argument to discredit the reliability of those studies.
e
Despite the opinions ██ ████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ████ ███████████ ████ █████ ██ █ ██████ ████ ███████ ████████████ ███ ████████████
We can’t assume that these studies were conducted by “many medical experts.”
Also, the statistician only considers these two studies—she doesn’t suggest what has or hasn’t been established outside those studies.