Self-study
Fifty chronic insomniacs participated in a one-month study conducted at an institute for sleep disorders. ████ ████ █████ █ ████ ██ █ ███ ████ ███ ███ █████ ████ ████ █████ █ ███████ █████ █████ ██████ █████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ██████████ █████████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██ ████ █████ ████████ ███████████ ██████ ████ ████████ ██████ ███ █████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ████ ██████ █████████████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ███ ████████ ██████ ███████ ████ █████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███ ██████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why did approximately 80 percent of people in each of the study’s groups report relief from insomnia during the first two weeks of the study and 90 percent of those from each group who reported relief from insomnia claim their insomnia returned during the third week?
Objective
The right answer will be a hypothesis that explains a key similarity between the 80 percent of people from both the placebo and treatment groups that reported relief from insomnia, the 90 percent of those from each group that reported relief but claimed their insomnia returned, or both.
19.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ███ ██████
a
Because it is ████ ██ █████ ██ █ █████████ ██ ███ ███ █████ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ██████ ██████████ ███ ███████ █████ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ███ ███ ██████
This provides a difference between the people in the placebo and treatment groups, but we need a similarity. (A) tells us most people in the treatment group wouldn’t experience the drug’s potential effects after two weeks. This doesn’t explain why the groups had similar results.
b
The psychological comfort ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ███ █████ █ ███████████████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ████████ ██ █████████
This doesn't account for why 90% of each group would say their insomnia returned during the third week. We need an answer that could explain why insomnia might go away for most people and then return.
c
The new drug ██ ████ ███████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ██ ███████ █████ █████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ██ ██ ████ █████████ ████ █████████
We don’t know the significance of the chemical composition of the new drug or the size of the dosage taken by people in the treatment group. (C) doesn’t help explain the phenomenon in the stimulus.
d
Most insomniacs sleep ██████ ██ █ ███ ████████████ ███ ███ ███ ████ ███ ██ ██████ ██ ██ ███████████ ███████ ██ ██████
This points out two key similarities between those in the placebo and treatment groups. Most people in both groups were likely to sleep better in their new environment and the new drug doesn’t affect sleep, helping to explain the similarity in results between the two groups.
e
Some insomniacs cannot ████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ████ ████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██████
We don’t know if this applies to insomniacs in the study. (E) tells us nothing about why the placebo and treatment groups had similar results.