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- Mon Jul 11, 2016 12:39 pm
#26975
Complete Question Explanation
StrengthenX. The correct answer choice is (B)
Here the author presents the results of a single experiment: a group of older participants were compared with a younger group, with regard to the reliability of their making a call at a specified time. From the fact that the older group appears to have performed better, the author draws the rather broad conclusion that the particular type of memory involved here does not worsen over time. The weakness here is in the reliance on the experiment as the sole premise for the author’s conclusion. To strengthen the argument we might seek to lend credibility to the survey.
Since this is another Strengthen Except question, the four incorrect answer choices will strengthen the argument, and the correct choice will fail to strengthen. Note that the correct choice does not have to weaken the argument—it just can’t strengthen it. Answer choice (A) strengthens, by ruling out one way that the experimental results may have been skewed. Answer choice (C) does the same; if all of the college students were 85, for example, then the author’s conclusion would be completely unjustified. Answer choices (D) and (E) both lend credibility to the survey by pointing out facets of a “level playing field.” The fact that both groups had the same access, and the same time lapse between directions and actions, means that the survey was fair, at least in those two ways.
Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. Correct answer choice (B) fails to strengthen, because it has nothing to do with the experiment or with the author’s argument. The caller is the relevant player in the experiment, not the answerer, so this answer choice is correct.
StrengthenX. The correct answer choice is (B)
Here the author presents the results of a single experiment: a group of older participants were compared with a younger group, with regard to the reliability of their making a call at a specified time. From the fact that the older group appears to have performed better, the author draws the rather broad conclusion that the particular type of memory involved here does not worsen over time. The weakness here is in the reliance on the experiment as the sole premise for the author’s conclusion. To strengthen the argument we might seek to lend credibility to the survey.
Since this is another Strengthen Except question, the four incorrect answer choices will strengthen the argument, and the correct choice will fail to strengthen. Note that the correct choice does not have to weaken the argument—it just can’t strengthen it. Answer choice (A) strengthens, by ruling out one way that the experimental results may have been skewed. Answer choice (C) does the same; if all of the college students were 85, for example, then the author’s conclusion would be completely unjustified. Answer choices (D) and (E) both lend credibility to the survey by pointing out facets of a “level playing field.” The fact that both groups had the same access, and the same time lapse between directions and actions, means that the survey was fair, at least in those two ways.
Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. Correct answer choice (B) fails to strengthen, because it has nothing to do with the experiment or with the author’s argument. The caller is the relevant player in the experiment, not the answerer, so this answer choice is correct.