PT112.S4.Q17

PrepTest 112 - Section 4 - Question 17

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Researchers have found that people who drink five or more cups of coffee a day have a risk of heart disease 2.5 times the average after corrections are made for age and smoking habits. ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████ █████████ ████ ███ █████ █████ ███ █████ ██████ ██████ ██ ███ █████

Summary: Phenomenon-Hypothesis

The researchers on this team have discovered a phenomenon: drinking five or more cups of coffee a day is correlated with a much higher risk of heart disease than average, even controlling for age and smoking habits. As a result, the members of this research team have decided to limit their own coffee intake to two cups a day. Their decision suggests the implicit hypothesis that cutting back on coffee may reduce their risk of heart disease.

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17.

Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████████ ████ ███ ████████████ ██████████ █████ ███ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ █████ ████ ██ █████ ████████

a

The study found ████ ███ ██████ ███ █████ █████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ████ ██ █████ ███████ █████████ ████ ████ █████ █████ ████
Incorrect. The researchers are deciding to drink two cups of coffee a day, not three. So (A) doesn't give us any information about the likely effects of the researchers' decision.
Directionally wrong
4%
b

Per capita coffee ███████████ ███ ████ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ██████ ████████
Incorrect. Knowing that people in general are drinking less coffee doesn't help us. We're interested in what happens to people who do drink certain amounts of coffee, and whether reducing coffee intake from above two cups a day to two cups or less per day will reduce the risk of heart disease
3%
c

The study did ███ ███████ ███████████ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ █ █████ ██████ ██████ ██ █████ ████████
Correct. (C) suggests that there may be an alternative explanation for the higher risk of heart disease among people who drink five or more cups of coffee. It might not be the coffee itself that increases the risk of heart disease: those people might be experiencing high levels of stress, for example, that cause them both to drink more coffee and to have a higher risk of heart disease. So (C) effectively weakens the argument.
Alternate explanation
85%
d

Subsequent studies have ████████████ █████ ████ █████ ███████ ███████ ██████ ██ █████ █ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███████████
Incorrect. The original study already controlled for smoking habits, so (D) isn't relevant.
Illusory inconsistency
5%
e

Subsequent studies have █████ ████ █████ ██████ ███████████ █████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ █████████████████ ██████ ██ █████████ █████████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ █████ ████████
Incorrect. (E) suggests that heavy coffee consumption does cause a higher risk of heart disease. Since there is a causal link between coffee consumption and heart disease, the researchers' decision to limit their coffee consumption might actually reduce their risk of heart disease.
Directionally wrong
3%

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