#12 - Researcher: A number of studies have suggested that

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Weaken-CE. The correct answer choice is (A)

By observing that clients in short-term psychotherapy show similar levels of improvement regardless of the kind of psychotherapy they get, the researcher concludes that there must be some aspect shared by all types of psychotherapy that produces the client improvement. The causal relationship can be summarized as follows:

• Cause Effect
  
  All psychotherapies Similar levels of client improvement
  share something in common in short-term psychotherapy

This argument is weak for a number of reasons. Just because all clients in short-term psychotherapy experience similar levels of improvement, that does not mean that all types of psychotherapy share the same aspect responsible for that improvement. For instance, what if both cognitive and behavioral psychotherapies produce similar levels of short-term improvement for two distinctly different reasons, neither of which is shared by the other type? Furthermore, when presented with an argument based on the findings of a study, always question if the data used to make a causal statement is in error. If so, the validity of the causal claim would be in question.

To weaken this argument, look for answers showing either that the level of client improvement was not the same for all types of psychotherapy, or that the similar levels of improvement were due to distinctly different causes, each of them particular only to the type of psychotherapy used.

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. If improvement was measured simply by immediate symptom relief, it is possible that some clients actually improved more than others. If so, this would immediately undermine the central findings of the study and weaken any causal conclusion that can be drawn from it. Notice that answer choice (A) does not completely disprove the hypothesis that all types of psychotherapy share a common aspect responsible for the clients' improvement — it merely suggests that we cannot make such a conclusion on the basis of erroneous data.

Answer choice (B): The author never suggested that short-term psychotherapy is as beneficial as long-term psychotherapy. Even if long-term psychotherapy were more beneficial, the researcher's conclusion about what caused client improvement in short-term psychotherapy still holds.

Answer choice (C): This answer choice compares the effectiveness of psychotherapy to that of counseling. Even if both are equally effective, this would only suggest that psychotherapy and counseling may have something in common.

Answer choice (D): This is perhaps the most difficult answer to disprove, since it implies that there are significant differences in methodology between different types of psychotherapy. Even so, it is still quite possible that the client improvement in short-term psychotherapy was due to a feature common to all types of psychotherapy. For instance, what if the different techniques and interventions used by therapists all entail the presence of someone who listens? This is not at odds with answer choice (D), which requires only that the specific techniques differ dramatically, not the fundamental principles upon which these techniques are based. Because answer choice (D) leaves open the possibility that a feature common to all types of psychotherapy is responsible for any client improvement, this answer choice does not weaken the argument.

Answer choice (E): Comparing experienced to inexperience therapists serves no purpose here. This answer choice is incorrect.

[niketown3000]

For Lesson 3HW I had trouble with Question 34

Q34: Can you further explain; I did not understand the answer explanations.

[Administrator]

Hi, can you clarify your thinking on this question? The more information you provide about your thought process, the more easily we can assist you. Also, can you please provide us with the page number? This will help our experts locate the question faster.

Thanks!

[brent_m]

This question is located on page 3-88 of the lesson material and is the only question number 34 in Lesson 3's homework.

I also had a hard time understanding why A was the correct answer. Why are "other important kinds of improvement" relevant to the argument when all the researcher is concerned with is "any" improvement?

Is it because the researcher jumps from "similar levels of improvement" to "any level of improvement"?

[Steve Stein]

In this one, studies have suggested that all short term psychotherapy clients tend to show similar levels of improvement. The researcher concludes that any client improvement can thus be attributed to some common aspect of all short term psychotherapy. As you alluded to, making such a claim about "any" such client improvement (i.e. all such improvements) come from such treatment is pretty bold.

Since the stimulus is followed by a Weaken question, we need to find the answer choice that makes it less likely that "any" client improvement can be attributed to the same common factors. Answer choice A provides exactly that: if the studies referred to by the researcher all focused on just one type of improvement, this hurts the broad argument that all such improvements can be commonly attributed.

Tough one! Let me know if this makes sense--thanks!

~Steve

[Dolores]

Regarding the correct answer (A): The methods by which the studies measured whether clients improved primarily concerned immediate symptom relief and failed to address other important kinds of improvement.

Does the answer choice attack Data (methods of studies) and Cause (other kinds of improvements?)

Does the use of 'short term psychotherapy' mean the same thing as 'immediate symptom relief' in the correct answer?

I did not feel confident about my answer choice (D) although (A) was my second choice I failed to connect the terms method (answer choice) to studies (stimulus)and possibly immediate symptom relief (answer choice) to short term psychotherapy (stimulus).

Also in my pre-phase I reversed the C and E relationship.

Thanks in advance for any insight or advise

[Andrew Ash]

Hi Dolores,

Thanks for your post!

This is indeed a causal argument, and as you suggested, answer choice (A) is a data attack.

The researcher's claim is that "aspects of therapy that are common to all psychotherapies" cause improvement, at least in the case of "short-term psychotherapy":

Aspects of therapy common to all psychotherapies Improvement

His only support is studies, which leaves him vulnerable, since studies can always be flawed. Answer choice (A) suggests that the studies did not measure "improvement" correctly, which leaves open the possibility that some kinds of psychotherapy actually were much more effective than others. If that's the case, this argument doesn't have a leg to stand on.

I wouldn't say that it attacks the cause specifically in this case, because it's not suggesting alternate causes for improvement. It just attacks the validity of the data on which the conclusion is based.

"Immediate symptom relief" is actually a different idea from "short-term psychotherapy." Immediate symptom relief is just one kind of improvement - for example, a hallucinating patient stops hallucinating, at least temporarily. This answer choice is suggesting that there are other kinds of improvement (patients returning to a normal lifestyle, for instance) that aren't immediate symptom relief, but are still important. The fact that the studies failed to take them into account is a serious problem, because it means they didn't do a good job of measuring how effective each kind of short-term psychotherapy actually was.

The problem with answer choice (D) is that the researcher would have an easy answer to this objection. He could say, "Well, sure, they use different techniques and interventions, but since they all have the same effect, they must have some underlying features in common." So answer choice (D) doesn't defeat the original argument as effectively as (A) does.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Andrew

[bk1111]

Hi,

I stayed away from A because although it mentions that the methods primarily concerned "immediate symptom relief", the study itself was discussing short-term improvement, so the fact that it did not address other types of improvement did not seem relevant to me. Can someone please clarify? Thank you!

[Ricky_Hutchens]

Hi bk1111,

I'm not sure short-term relief is equivalent to immediate relief. Under A, it is possible that there are other types of short-term relief that are important besides immediate relief. If that's the case, then the data from the study is flawed.

[Lawyered]

I thought the conclusion would be any improvement must be the result of some aspect(s) of therapy common to all psychotherapies.

So, to weaken it the MOST if we can show something like D or E whereby there's more tricks or ways depending on how advanced or skilled the psychotherapists is...then that would deny their claim of common to all.

I am not really sure how A weakens it or especially how it weakens it the MOST.

Please help...

Complete Question Explanation

Weaken-CE. The correct answer choice is (A)

By observing that clients in short-term psychotherapy show similar levels of improvement regardless of the kind of psychotherapy they get, the researcher concludes that there must be some aspect shared by all types of psychotherapy that produces the client improvement. The causal relationship can be summarized as follows:

• Cause Effect
  
  All psychotherapies Similar levels of client improvement
  share something in common in short-term psychotherapy

This argument is weak for a number of reasons. Just because all clients in short-term psychotherapy experience similar levels of improvement, that does not mean that all types of psychotherapy share the same aspect responsible for that improvement. For instance, what if both cognitive and behavioral psychotherapies produce similar levels of short-term improvement for two distinctly different reasons, neither of which is shared by the other type? Furthermore, when presented with an argument based on the findings of a study, always question if the data used to make a causal statement is in error. If so, the validity of the causal claim would be in question.

To weaken this argument, look for answers showing either that the level of client improvement was not the same for all types of psychotherapy, or that the similar levels of improvement were due to distinctly different causes, each of them particular only to the type of psychotherapy used.

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. If improvement was measured simply by immediate symptom relief, it is possible that some clients actually improved more than others. If so, this would immediately undermine the central findings of the study and weaken any causal conclusion that can be drawn from it. Notice that answer choice (A) does not completely disprove the hypothesis that all types of psychotherapy share a common aspect responsible for the clients' improvement — it merely suggests that we cannot make such a conclusion on the basis of erroneous data.

Answer choice (B): The author never suggested that short-term psychotherapy is as beneficial as long-term psychotherapy. Even if long-term psychotherapy were more beneficial, the researcher's conclusion about what caused client improvement in short-term psychotherapy still holds.

Answer choice (C): This answer choice compares the effectiveness of psychotherapy to that of counseling. Even if both are equally effective, this would only suggest that psychotherapy and counseling may have something in common.

Answer choice (D): This is perhaps the most difficult answer to disprove, since it implies that there are significant differences in methodology between different types of psychotherapy. Even so, it is still quite possible that the client improvement in short-term psychotherapy was due to a feature common to all types of psychotherapy. For instance, what if the different techniques and interventions used by therapists all entail the presence of someone who listens? This is not at odds with answer choice (D), which requires only that the specific techniques differ dramatically, not the fundamental principles upon which these techniques are based. Because answer choice (D) leaves open the possibility that a feature common to all types of psychotherapy is responsible for any client improvement, this answer choice does not weaken the argument.

Answer choice (E): Comparing experienced to inexperience therapists serves no purpose here. This answer choice is incorrect.