Self-study
In a study, six medical students were each separately presented with the same patient, whose symptoms could be the result of any one of several medical conditions. ███ █████████ █████████ █████ ████ ███████ █ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ █████ █████ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ███ █ █████████ ██ ███ █████ █ ███ ██████ ██ ████ █ █████████ ███████ █████████ ███ ████ ████████ █ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ███ █████████ ████ █ ███████ ██████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ █ █████████ █████████ █████████ ███ █████ ███ █ █████████ ███████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ████ ███████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████ ██████████
Summary
In a study, six medical students were separately presented with the same patient. Each was asked a leading question: “What tests should we order to try to rule out diagnosis X?” For each student, "X" was filled in with a different condition. A week later, each student saw a second patient with similar symptoms, but a different attending physician who did not ask any leading questions. Each student first tested for the diagnosis that had been suggested to them with the initial patient.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
Being asked a leading question can influence someone's behavior even several days after the question is asked.
When considering the second patient, each student initially tested for a different diagnosis.
14.
Which one of the following ██████████ ██ ████ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████
a
On the second █████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ██ ███ █████ ███████ █████████
This answer is strongly supported. On the first occasion, a different diagnosis was suggested to each student. On the second occasion, each student began by testing for the diagnosis that had been suggested prior. So each student must have tested for a different diagnosis on the second occasion.
b
At most one ██ ███ ███████ ████████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ██████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ███ █████████ █████████
This answer is unsupported. The stimulus never suggests that the students have different levels of knowledge, but rather that they tested different diagnoses because of the prior leading question.
c
The second attending █████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ █████████ ████ ███ █████ █████████ ██████████
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know from the stimulus whether the second attending physician was aware or unaware of the first occasion.
d
On the second █████████ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ ███ ███████ █████████ ████ ████████ ██████ ███ █████████ █████████
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know from the stimulus whether any of the diagnoses the medical students tested were correct.
e
At least some ██ ███ ███████ ████████ ████ ███████ ████ ███ █████████ ████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████████ █████ ████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████ ██████████
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know anything about the medical students’ awareness or knowledge. We also only know what the students tested first, not whether they did other tests as well.