#17 - Specific Reference, Must Be True, Purpose/Function

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (A).

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[axelkr00]

Hi,

The question asks:

"The author’s characterization of traditional legal research in the first paragraph is intended to".
A) provide background information for the subsequent discussion
B) summarize an opponent’s position

I chose B for this question . How is A better than B?

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

There are multiple viewpoints in that first paragraph, axelkr00.

1. Scholars using social science tools. These scientists dislike traditional legal research.
2. The author. The author agrees that traditional legal research has limitations, but also feels that the social scientists use the incorrect technique at times.

The use of legal research in the argument is not actually about an opponent's position at all. The social scientists and the author agree that legal research traditionally lacked the depth and detail of social science tools. We know the author agrees with the social scientists on this point because he refers to their concern about the few cases studied in traditional legal research as a justified concern. It's a point of agreement, not a point of disagreement, and we would rule out answer choice (B) for that reason.

For answer choice (A), we see that the discussion of traditional legal research is meant to introduce why we are using social science tools to analyze legal cases at all. The overall structure of the passage is to introduce a new way of analyzing legal cases, talk about one way that had been preferred under the social sciences model, and then move into discussing two potentially better alternatives. Looking at the discussion of traditional legal research in that overall frame, we can see that it's there to provide background and explain a past way of doing case research. The author agrees that the social science methods will provide more valuable information to potential plaintiffs than traditional legal research would have.

Hope that helps