Self-study
When a patient failed to respond to prescribed medication, the doctor hypothesized that the dosage was insufficient. ███ ██████ █████ ███████ ████████ ███ ███████ ███ ███ █████████ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ █████████ █████ ██ ██████ ████████ ████ █████ ████████ ███ ████████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████ ███ ████ ████████ ███ █████████ ███ ███████ █████████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ █████ ███ █████████ ███ █████████ ████████ ████████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██████████ ███ ████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that the doctor’s initial hypothesis—that the original dosage was too low—was correct. She supports this by describing three sets of recommendations made by the doctor:
Double the dosage. (Symptoms remained.)
Return to original dosage but stop drinking a beverage that inhibits the medication. (Symptoms remained.)
Double the dosage again, keep avoiding the beverage. (Symptoms disappeared!)
Describe Method of Reasoning
The second set of recommendations lends support to the initial hypothesis that the dosage was too by eliminating an alternative hypothesis. Since the patient’s symptoms remained after this set of recommendations, it’s likely that the beverage wasn’t the sole cause of the original dosage’s ineffectiveness.
12.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ ██ ███████████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████ ███████████
a
They establish that ███ ████████ ████████ █████ ███ █████████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ████ ████████
Actually, when the patient stopped drinking the beverage and returned to the original dosage, his symptoms still remained. So the results of the second set of recommendations don’t yet establish that the doctor’s concerns about the beverage were well founded.
b
They make it ████ █████████ ████ ███ ████████ ████████ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████████
The patient’s symptoms remained after quitting the beverage and returning to the original dosage. Even if the beverage is a contributing factor, these results suggest that the original dosage is indeed too low, whether the patient is drinking the beverage or not.
c
They give evidence ████ ███ ████████ ███ ███████████ ███ ███ ███████████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████████
We don't know yet if the beverage caused the medicine to be ineffective. In fact, because the symptoms remained, we now know that the beverage alone wasn’t entirely responsible. Also, if (C) were true, it would weaken the original hypothesis; we need an answer that supports it.
d
They suggest that ███ ████████ ███ ███ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ███████████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████
Since the symptoms remained after stopping the beverage, it shows the beverage wasn't the only cause of the dosage's ineffectiveness. This supports the hypothesis that the dosage was too low by eliminating the alternative hypothesis that the beverage alone was responsible.
e
They rule out ███ ███████████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██████████ ███ ███ █████████ █████████
The results of the second set of recommendations don’t rule out this possibility because it’s still unclear whether a higher dosage of the original medication will help the patient or not.