LSAT 107 – Section 4 – Question 24

LSAT 107 - Section 4 - Question 24

October 1999

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT107 S4 Q24
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Sampling +Smpl
A
13%
159
B
66%
167
C
7%
160
D
12%
159
E
2%
161
152
159
167
 +Harder 141.321 +SubsectionEasier

Medical researcher: As expected, records covering the last four years of ten major hospitals indicate that babies born prematurely were more likely to have low birth weights and to suffer from health problems than were babies not born prematurely. These records also indicate that mothers who had received adequate prenatal care were less likely to have low birth weight babies than were mothers who had received inadequate prenatal care. Adequate prenatal care, therefore, significantly decreases the risk of low birth weight babies.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The researcher hypothesizes that adequate prenatal care significantly reduces the risk of low birth weight babies. This is supported by an observed correlation from hospital records: mothers who receive inadequate prenatal care are more likely to have low birth weight babies than mothers who receive adequate prenatal care. The records also noted that premature babies are more likely to have low birth weights.

Notable Assumptions
The researcher assumes that there is no alternative cause accounting for the observed correlation between inadequate prenatal care and low birth weight. For example, social or economic factors might instead cause both.
The researcher also assumes that the hospital records give a complete and accurate picture of the situation. If the hospitals’ data entry is flawed, then even the correlation may not be reliable.

A
The hospital records indicate that many babies that are born with normal birth weights are born to mothers who had inadequate prenatal care.
Like (D), this does not weaken the researcher’s argument, because “many” normal birth weight babies being born despite inadequate prenatal care is totally consistent with an overall correlation between those factors. A statistic doesn’t require every individual case to match!
B
Mothers giving birth prematurely are routinely classified by hospitals as having received inadequate prenatal care when the record of that care is not available.
This weakens the researcher’s argument because it undermines the reliability of the hospital records. Premature babies usually have low birth weights, so this practice could easily skew the recorded correlation. And if the correlation isn’t solid, it’s hard to argue causation.
C
The hospital records indicate that low birth weight babies were routinely classified as having been born prematurely.
This does not weaken the researcher’s argument because, unlike (B), it does not affect the correlation between low birth weight and inadequate prenatal care. If the researcher’s hypothesis was about premature birth and low birth weight, this might weaken, but it’s not.
D
Some babies not born prematurely, whose mothers received adequate prenatal care, have low birth weights.
Like (A), this does not weaken the researcher’s argument, because the researcher is focusing on statistical trends, not individual cases. Even if “some” babies’ circumstances are different, that doesn’t mean the overall trend isn’t still reliable.
E
Women who receive adequate prenatal care are less likely to give birth prematurely than are women who do not receive adequate prenatal care.
This does not weaken the researcher’s argument because it’s completely consistent with adequate prenatal care preventing low birth weight. In fact, this suggests an indirect causation where premature birth acts as a mechanism for causing or preventing low birth weight.

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LSAT PrepTest 107 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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