LSAT 111 – Section 1 – Question 15

LSAT 111 - Section 1 - Question 15

October 2001

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT111 S1 Q15
+LR
Except +Exc
Strengthen +Streng
Sampling +Smpl
A
2%
159
B
3%
161
C
7%
154
D
2%
154
E
87%
166
138
147
155
 +Medium 147.471 +SubsectionMedium

Kevin’s explanation

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Statistician: A financial magazine claimed that its survey of its subscribers showed that North Americans are more concerned about their personal finances than about politics. One question was: “Which do you think about more: politics or the joy of earning money?” This question is clearly biased. Also, the readers of the magazine are a self-selecting sample. Thus, there is reason to be skeptical about the conclusion drawn in the magazine’s survey.

Summarize Argument
The statistician claims there’s reason to be skeptical about the magazine’s claim that North Americans are more concerned with finances than politics. Why? Because a question on the survey was biased and because subscribers to the magazine might poorly represent North Americans in general.

Notable Assumptions
The statistician assumes conclusions based on a survey with a self-selecting sample and a biased question should be received skeptically. He assumes the survey question he quotes is biased in a way that could affect the conclusion based on the survey’s results.

A
The credibility of the magazine has been called into question on a number of occasions.
This is another reason to view the survey’s results with skepticism. It suggests the magazine has been accused of being careless or insincere, which doesn’t prove the magazine’s conclusion wrong, but does give a reason to be skeptical of it.
B
The conclusions drawn in most magazine surveys have eventually been disproved.
This is another reason to view the magazine’s conclusion with skepticism. It suggests magazine surveys in general are unreliable, which doesn’t prove this magazine’s conclusion is false, but gives a reason to be skeptical about it.
C
Other surveys suggest that North Americans are just as concerned about politics as they are about finances.
This introduces new evidence that conflicts with the magazine’s conclusion, giving more reason to doubt that conclusion.
D
There is reason to be skeptical about the results of surveys that are biased and unrepresentative.
This makes concrete the statistician’s assumption that a survey with an unrepresentative sample and a biased question should be viewed skeptically.
E
Other surveys suggest that North Americans are concerned not only with politics and finances, but also with social issues.
This is irrelevant. Neither the magazine nor the statistician assumes politics and personal finance are the only two issues North Americans care about. Concern about a third issue gives no reason to doubt the magazine’s conclusion, which compares interest in the two issues only.

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LSAT PrepTest 111 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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