LSAT 146 – Section 3 – Question 01

LSAT 146 - Section 3 - Question 01

June 2016

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT146 S3 Q01
+LR
Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw
Sampling +Smpl
A
95%
164
B
1%
160
C
2%
157
D
1%
148
E
1%
155
127
136
145
 +Easier 146.758 +SubsectionMedium

A nonprofit organization concerned with a social issue sent out a fund-raising letter to 5,000 people. The letter was accompanied by a survey soliciting recipients’ opinions. Of the 300 respondents, 283 indicated in the survey that they agreed with the organization’s position on the social issue. This suggests that most of the 5,000 people to whom the letter was sent agreed with that position.

Summarize Argument
An organization sent a fund-raising letter to 5,000 people. The author concludes that most of the 5,000 people to whom the letter was sent agreed with the organizaton’s position on a particular social issue. This is supported by results of a survey that was sent with the letter. Out of the 300 who responded to the survey, 283 responded that they agreed with the organization.

Identify and Describe Flaw
The author overlooks the possibility that the people who responded to the survey are unrepresentative of the people who didn’t respond to the survey with respect to their opinion on the issue. It’s possible that the people who responded are much more likely than the average recipient to be supportive of the organization’s position.

A
It draws a conclusion about a population from observations of a subgroup that is quite likely to be unrepresentative of that population in certain relevant respects.
The conclusion is based on responses of survey responders. It’s reasonable to think that responders are more likely to agree with the organization’s position than people who didn’t respond. So they’re likely unrepresentative of the entire group of 5,000.
B
It takes for granted that most individuals do not vary significantly in the opinions they would express on a given issue if surveyed regarding that issue on different occasions.
The conclusion asserts that most of the 5,000 agreed with the organization’s position. This doesn’t mean the author thinks people might not change their opinions later and respond differently later.
C
It relies on the accuracy of a survey made under conditions in which it is probable that most of the responses to that survey did not correctly reflect the opinions of the respondents.
We have no reason to suspect that when people responded that they agreed with the organization, that they actually didn’t agree. It’s possible this happened, but we have no reason to think it’s “probable.”
D
It uses evidence about an opinion held by the majority of a population in an attempt to justify a conclusion regarding the opinion of a small part of that population.
(D) is reversed. The author uses evidence concerning a small portion of a population (the survey responders) to justify a conclusion about a majority of the population (most people who got the letter and survey).
E
It takes for granted that the fund-raising letter had some influence on the opinions of most of the people who received it.
The author doesn’t assume that the letter affected anyone’s opinions. The argument simply interprets the survey results as indicative of the opinion of most people who got the letter.

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LSAT PrepTest 146 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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