Self-study
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. ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████ █████████ ████ ███ █████ █████ ███ █████ ██████ ██████ ██ ███ █████
Summarize Argument
The researchers implicitly conclude that drinking just two cups of coffee per day gives them less risk of heart disease than drinking five or more cups per day. Why? Because their research found that people who drink five or more cups daily have an elevated risk of heart disease.
Notable Assumptions
The researchers assume that people who drink two cups of coffee per day have less risk of heart disease than those who drink five or more per day. They also assume there’s no factor besides age and smoking habits that is associated with coffee intake and would explain the health effect.
17.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████████ ████ ███ ████████████ ██████████ █████ ███ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ █████ ████ ██ █████ ████████
a
The study found ████ ███ ██████ ███ █████ █████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ████ ██ █████ ███████ █████████ ████ ████ █████ █████ ████
This is irrelevant because it does not apply to people drinking two or fewer cups per day. It’s possible that people who drink two cups daily have an even higher risk of heart disease than people who drink five cups.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
b
Per capita coffee ███████████ ███ ████ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ██████ ████████
The proportion of people in the world drinking coffee is not relevant to the researchers’ decision. Lots of coffee can have negative health effects even if it’s less popular than it used to be.
c
The study did ███ ███████ ███████████ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ █ █████ ██████ ██████ ██ █████ ████████
This introduces an alternative explanation for the study’s results that challenges the researchers’ conclusion. If people who are stressed tend to consume lots of coffee, then simply reducing coffee intake may not reduce the risk of heart disease.
Alternate explanation
Alternate explanation
Weaken: Introduce or support an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
Strengthen: Helps to eliminate an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
d
Subsequent studies have ████████████ █████ ████ █████ ███████ ███████ ██████ ██ █████ █ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███████████
The study controlled for smoking, so a relationship between smoking habits and coffee consumption should not have influenced the results.
Illusory inconsistency
Illusory inconsistency
Answer is attractive because it seems to (but doesn't actually) contradict the premises or conclusion.
e
Subsequent studies have █████ ████ █████ ██████ ███████████ █████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ █████████████████ ██████ ██ █████████ █████████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ █████ ████████
This explains why drinking more coffee increases the risk of heart disease, without challenging the researchers’ conclusion. It does not imply that variations in blood-cholesterol levels confounded the study’s results.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).