Self-study
Insurers and doctors are well aware that Support the incidence of lower-back injuries among office workers who spend long hours sitting is higher than that among people who regularly do physical work of a type known to place heavy stresses on the lower back. ████ █████ ████ ██████ █████████ ███ █████████ ███ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that office equipment and furniture are not properly designed to promote workers’ health. This is based on the fact that the incidence of lower-back injuries among office workers who spend a long time sitting is higher than the incidence of lower-back injuries among people who regularly do physical work that puts stresses on their lower back.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the there’s no other explanation for the higher rate of lower-back injuries among office workers than the design of office equipment and furniture. This overlooks the possibility that there’s some difference between office workers and physical laborers that might account the difference in rate of lower-back injury.
22.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██████
a
When they are ██ █████ ████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ███████ ██ ████ ████████
If anything, this strengthens the argument by eliminating differences in sitting time at home as a potential explanation. For example, if office workers had sit a lot more at home, then the overall sitting time might have been the true explanation for the higher rate of injury.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
b
Insurance companies tend ██ ███████ ███████ ████████ ██ █████████ █████ ███████ █████ █████ ██ ████ ████ █████
What insurance companies prefer has no impact on what might explain the disparity in lower-back injury between office workers and physical laborers.
c
People who regularly ██ ████████ ████ ██ █ ████ █████ ██ █████ █████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ █████████
We have no reason to think office workers aren’t similarly encouraged to use techniques that reduce back stress (ex. seat cushions). In addition, even if the laborers can reduce back stress, we’d still expect them to get back injuries at a higher rate than office workers.
d
Most of the ██████████ ████████ ████ ██████ ███████ ██████ █████ █████ ████ ███ ██ ███ ████
The timing of injuries doesn’t have clear impact on the argument. Back stress might cause injury at work or it might build up and lead to injury at home. If this answer does anything, it might strengthen the argument by connecting injuries to the office.
e
Consistent physical exercise ██ ███ ██ ███ ████ █████████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ ██████████ █████████
Laborers get much more physical exercise (which includes more than just gym activities/cardio) than office workers on the job. This disparity in physical exercise, rather than office equipment design, could be the true explanation for the disparity in lower-back injuries.
Alternate explanation
Alternate explanation
Weaken: Introduce or support an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
Strengthen: Helps to eliminate an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.