PT146.S1.Q1

PrepTest 146 - Section 1 - Question 1

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Grecia: The survey that we are conducting needs to track employment status by age, so respondents should be asked to indicate their age.

Hidalgo: We don't need results that provide employment status figures for every single age. So we should instead ask respondents merely to identify the age range that they fall into.

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1.

Which one of the following principles, if valid, most justifies Hidalgo's stance?

a

Surveys gathering information for a specific purpose should not collect more detailed personal information than is necessary to achieve the purpose.

Hidalgo established that information on specific ages is more detailed than is necessary for the survey, so (A) triggers. It also leads to the correct conclusion, that the survey should not collect exact ages. So this is the bridge we're looking for.

99%
b

Survey respondents should not be asked a particular question if they are unlikely to answer accurately.

We don't have any information about whether respondents are likely to answer accurately, so (B) isn't triggered by the stimulus. Since it doesn't apply, it can't bridge to Hidalgo's conclusion.

0%
c

Sensitive personal information should be gathered only if a secure means of storing that information is available.

Hidalgo doesn't establish that the information collected from respondents would be stored insecurely, so (C) doesn't trigger. If the stimulus did tell us that the answers would be stored insecurely, this could be correct, but without that detail this just can't bridge the gap.

0%
d

Surveys should be allowed to gather any information that might be needed to meet their purposes.

The argument is about what information the survey should collect, not what information it should be allowed to collect, and (D) can't tell us anything about what the survey should or shouldn't do. And even if Hidalgo's conclusion was that collecting exact ages shouldn't be allowed, (D) only tells us when information collection should be allowed, so it still wouldn't be helpful.

1%
e

Surveys should gather detailed personal information only if survey respondents are first told about how that information will be used.

(E) doesn't trigger, because the stimulus never mentions whether respondents are told how the information will be used. Like (C), this could be the correct answer if the stimulus contained more information—but as it is, it doesn't apply, so can't help justify Hidalgo's conclusion.

0%

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