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- Mon Sep 23, 2013 10:11 am
#11104
Complete Question Explanation
Resolve the Paradox. The correct answer choice is (B)
A study examining the prevalence of carpal tunnel syndrome among office workers found that the risk of developing the disorder was much higher for workers who feel that they lack control over their own work. The question stem asks us to explain this finding. The stimulus does not contain a true paradox, just a negative correlation that the correct answer choice needs to explain. Note that the study compared workers who do similar amounts of typing, so the amount of typing cannot account for the different levels of risk observed in the study.
Answer choice (A): At first glance, this may seem like an attractive answer. Carpal tunnel is caused by repetitive motions such as typing on a keyboard. If the level of control we have over our own work correlates negatively with the amount of typing we do, this would explain why the workers who have the most control over their own work are less likely to develop carpal tunnel syndrome than those who have the least control. The study, however, compared workers who do similar amounts of typing and arrived at the same observation. Answer choice (A) contradicts a basic premise of the study, and cannot explain its findings.
Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. If lack of control over one’s own work can put one under emotional stress that can lead to the development of nerve disorders, this would explain why those who feel the least control over their own work would have a particularly high risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome (a nerve disorder):
Answer choice (C): The exact mechanism by which office workers develop carpal tunnel syndrome is irrelevant. Our job is to explain the correlation described in the stimulus, not the pathology itself.
Answer choice (D): This answer choice seems to affirm the study’s findings: even among those who rarely type, the rate of carpal tunnel is higher for those who feel that they lack control over their own work. This observation cannot explain the study’s findings; it merely offers an analogous correlation that is just as puzzling as the correlation described in the stimulus.
Answer choice (E): This is the Opposite answer, as it makes the study’s findings even more baffling. According to the stimulus, typing is just one type of repetitive motion that causes carpal tunnel syndrome. So, if performing such repetitive motions correlates with how much control workers have over their own work, we would expect that the workers who have the most control over their own work would also have the highest risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome. This would directly contradict the information contained in the stimulus, where the correlation between having control over one’s work and the risk of developing the disorder was negative, not positive.
Resolve the Paradox. The correct answer choice is (B)
A study examining the prevalence of carpal tunnel syndrome among office workers found that the risk of developing the disorder was much higher for workers who feel that they lack control over their own work. The question stem asks us to explain this finding. The stimulus does not contain a true paradox, just a negative correlation that the correct answer choice needs to explain. Note that the study compared workers who do similar amounts of typing, so the amount of typing cannot account for the different levels of risk observed in the study.
Answer choice (A): At first glance, this may seem like an attractive answer. Carpal tunnel is caused by repetitive motions such as typing on a keyboard. If the level of control we have over our own work correlates negatively with the amount of typing we do, this would explain why the workers who have the most control over their own work are less likely to develop carpal tunnel syndrome than those who have the least control. The study, however, compared workers who do similar amounts of typing and arrived at the same observation. Answer choice (A) contradicts a basic premise of the study, and cannot explain its findings.
Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. If lack of control over one’s own work can put one under emotional stress that can lead to the development of nerve disorders, this would explain why those who feel the least control over their own work would have a particularly high risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome (a nerve disorder):
- Lack of control (cause)
Emotional stress (Effect/Cause) Carpal tunnel (Effect)
Answer choice (C): The exact mechanism by which office workers develop carpal tunnel syndrome is irrelevant. Our job is to explain the correlation described in the stimulus, not the pathology itself.
Answer choice (D): This answer choice seems to affirm the study’s findings: even among those who rarely type, the rate of carpal tunnel is higher for those who feel that they lack control over their own work. This observation cannot explain the study’s findings; it merely offers an analogous correlation that is just as puzzling as the correlation described in the stimulus.
Answer choice (E): This is the Opposite answer, as it makes the study’s findings even more baffling. According to the stimulus, typing is just one type of repetitive motion that causes carpal tunnel syndrome. So, if performing such repetitive motions correlates with how much control workers have over their own work, we would expect that the workers who have the most control over their own work would also have the highest risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome. This would directly contradict the information contained in the stimulus, where the correlation between having control over one’s work and the risk of developing the disorder was negative, not positive.
