Critique ·Author thinks "outcomes analysis" is misguided
I take it that "outcomes analysis" is Zirkel's social science technique. I predict that the next paragraph will tell us why the author thinks that's misguided.
Ah, this makes sense. The cases are too different: quality of evidence; attitude of judge; types of cases; etc. For "outcome analysis" to be predictively useful, a major assumption is that the cases are relevantly similar.
Researcher reads opinions to figure out which variables the judge thought was important in deciding the case. It then uses statistical methods to figure out the causal impact of those variables.
Researcher reads transcripts to figure out which variables and kinds of evidence contributed to the verdict. Presumably the researchers also use statistical tools to figure out causal impact.
Benefit ·These methods can help parties assess outcome of a potential case
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Problem-analysis
20.
Which one of the following ████ █████████ ███ ████████████ ██ ███ ████████
Question Type
Describe organization
Structure
Rely on your low-res summary to help with this question. P1 introduces “outcomes analysis.” P2 presents criticism of “outcomes analysis.” P3 presents two approaches that the author finds more useful than “outcomes analysis.”
a
A technique is ███████████ ███ ████████████ ███ ███████████ ███ ████████████ ███ ██████████
This is the best answer. “Outcomes analysis” is introduced in P1. Its shortcomings are identified in P2. And the author presents two alternative analysis techniques in P3.
77%
b
A debate is ███████████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███ █ ██████████ ██ ████████
The easiest way to eliminate this is to recognize that there’s no “compromise” reached. The author doesn’t compromise on “outcomes analysis.” She presents two other techniques she believes are more useful.
4%
c
A theory is ██████████ █████████████ ██ █████████ ███ █ ████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██ ██████████
The easiest way to eliminate this is to recognize that there’s no suggestion for further evaluation at the end. The author criticizes “outcomes analysis” and then discusses two better methods.
The easiest way to eliminate this is to recognize that there’s no amending of criteria at the end. The author criticizes “outcomes analysis” and then discusses two better methods.
3%
e
A position is ███████████ ███ ████████████ ███ ████████████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ ████████
The easiest way to eliminate this is to recognize that there’s no revising of the author’s challenge to “outcomes analysis” at the end. The author criticizes “outcomes analysis” and then discusses two better methods.
12%
Difficulty
78% of people who answer get this correct
This is a slightly challenging question.
It is somewhat easier than other questions in this passage.
CURVE
Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right
25%132
141
75%149
Analysis
Describe organization
Describe organization
Stems that ask us to describe the organization of a passage or paragraph in abstract terms (e.g. "a proposition is stated and then arguments for and against it are summarized").
An umbrella tag marking questions that test our understanding of the passage's overall structure (e.g. Main point, Purpose of paragraph, Meaning in context, Describe organization).
Critique or debate passages contain multiple points of view on a particular subject. Sometimes the author takes sides and participates in the critique or debate, other times the author merely reports the debate.
Passages that present a particular problem and then discuss the implications of that problem. They also often explore one or more solutions to that problem (although they don’t have to).
