#5 - Statistician: Two major studies found no causal link between medical procedure

[JocelynL]

My pre-phrase to this question was "Studies are flawed, no link was found" - so I chose answer B, but the correct answer is C. I can see why C is correct because it would also incorporate the last sentence in the stimulus, but how would we know when to incorporate this into the main conclusion? When the author is just trying to convince us that the study is flawed and that's typically enough for the conclusion. I see the last sentence as a premise for the main conclusion.
thanks!

[Robert Carroll]

Jocelyn,

Answer choice (B) is correct for this one! You're right that the last sentence is a premise. If you saw a different answer somewhere, that's a typo!

Robert Carroll

[LSATQUEEN180]

Drill this into your head: FIND THE CONCLUSION and the answer choice will paraphrase it. don't overthink!!!

The first conclusion is "these studies are flawed." but remember to identify what "these studies" mean. So to rewrite the first conclusion:
"the two major studies, which found no causal link between procedure X and Y are flawed."

Clearly after reading through the entire passage the first sentence is the conclusion.

Looking at the answer choices find something that paraphrases: "the two major studies, which found no causal link between procedure X and Y are flawed."


A. not the conclusion ... move on
B. sounds just like what I predicted
C. not the conclusion... move on
D. doesn't match the conclusion
E. this is tricky but because it does not say in any type of way "are flawed" this answer choice is wrong.

[Jeff Wren]

Hi LSATQUEEN180,

It looks like you did this exactly right, so way to go!

One other piece of advice that I'll add is that I recommend always physically marking the conclusion in the text. In other words, if you're doing the question on paper, bracket or underline it with a pencil or highlight it. If you're doing the question digitally, use the digital highlighter or the underline tool. This advice isn't just for Main Point Questions, it will be helpful for every argument because the conclusion is the most important part of the argument.

Also, the test makers often like to use synonyms in the correct answer choices to "hide/disguise" them, so be aware of this trick. For example, here the word "unsound" is a synonym for "flawed."

[zoezoe6021]

Hello,

I have a question about invalid and unsound.

In logic class, I learned that "valid" means the conclusion logically follows the premises, and "sound" means both the premises and the conclusion are correct. Yet, I never applied to scientific studies.

According to the answer to #5, may I assume a study is valid as long as it is designed logically correct? Any other mistakes in the study, such as the wrong sample, wrong data, or bias, are all causes that lead to unsound research projects?

Thank you.

[Jeff Wren]

Hi Zoe,

It's important to realize that terms such as "valid," "sound," and "flawed" can have specific meanings in terms of logic and also more general meanings.

Your definitions of "valid" and "sound" are correct in the context of logic and argumentation.

However, when you apply these terms to other situations outside of arguments, they often have different meanings.

For example a "valid" legal contract has nothing to do with premises and conclusion.

Here, I would not describe these studies as "valid" under any of its definitions.

The conclusion in the argument is that these studies are flawed. Since this is a Main Point question, you're looking for an answer that captures this idea (likely by using slightly different wording, such as a synonym).

Answer B's use of the word "unsound" is being used as a synonym for the word "flawed" in the stimulus. It is using a more general definition of the word, such as "not based on sound evidence or reasoning and therefore unreliable or unacceptable."