Self-study
On the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, a researcher examined 35 patients with atypical Parkinson's disease and compared their eating habits to those of 65 healthy adults. ███ █████ ████ ███ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ████████ ███████████ █████████ ███ ███ ████████ ██████ ████████ ███████ ██████ ███ █████ █████████ ███████ ████ ██ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ █████████ ███ █████ ███████ ████ █████ ███ █████████ ████ ██████ █████ ██████ ██████ ████████ ████████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The researcher hypothesizes that eating soursop, custard apple, and pomme cannelle causes atypical Parkinson’s. This is supported by a study showing that a group of patients with atypical Parkinson’s regularly ate these fruits, whereas the majority of healthy adults studied did not.
Notable Assumptions
Based on a mere correlation, the researcher assumes that eating certain fruits causes atypical Parkinson’s disease. This means assuming that the relationship is not reversed (e.g. atypical Parkinson’s causes one to prefer diet with such fruits), and that some hidden third factor is responsible for both the diet and atypical Parkinson’s.
The researcher also assumes that the selection methods used by the study didn't create the misleading appearance of a correlation between these factors.
1.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ ████████████ ██████████
a
For many of ███ ████████ ███████████ █████████ █████ ████████ ███████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██ ████ █████ ████████ ███████ ████ ████ ███████ ██████ ████████ ███████ ██████ ███ █████ █████████
This strengthens the author’s claimed causal connection between the fruits and atypical Parkinson’s disease, which in turn strengthens the argument.
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.
b
Of the healthy ██████ ███ ███ ███ █████████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██████ ███ █████ █████████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ██ █████ ███ █████████
The author doesn't make any claims about how frequently one needs to eat these fruits to increase the risk of Parkinson's. Even if this weakened the correlation, that doesn't strengthen the argument.
c
In areas other ████ ███████████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ █████ ████████ ███████ ██████ ███ █████ ████████ ████ ██████████ ████████ ████████████
The researcher isn’t claiming that eating these fruits is the only cause of atypical Parkinson’s. And even so, this potentially weakens the observed correlation, so doesn't strengthen the argument.
d
The 10 healthy ██████ ███ █████████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██████ ███ █████ ████████ ███ █████████████ ███████ ██████████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ███ ██ ████████ ███████████ █████████
This weakens the researcher’s argument by undermining the correlation between these fruits and atypical Parkinson's, whereas we're trying to strengthen.
e
Soursop, custard apple, ███ █████ ████████ ███████ █████████ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ████ ██ ████████ █████ ██ █████████ ██ ███████████
We have no idea whether vitamins are related to atypical Parkinson’s, so without further information, this is simply irrelevant.