#7 - Researcher: In a recent study of elementary school computers

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Weaken. The correct answer choice is (C).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

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

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

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

[supernerd]

Is C true because it nulls the comparison made between elementary school kids and adult office workers, the main component of this argument?

[Adam Tyson]

Correct, supernerd! The conclusion is that the positioning of these computers "put(s) children at the same risk for repetitive stress injuries as office workers," and answer C is saying "nope, the risks are not the same because kids aren't like office workers in an important way."

[TootyFrooty]

Could you please break down premise, concussion, sub conclusion here? and why not B?

[Hanin Abu Amara]

Hi TootyFrooty,

To find the conclusion we look for indicators. Here we have to indicators 1. "Consequently" and 2. "Thus"

So to break down this stimulus they start off with a premise about a recent study. We know this is a premise because it is an unsupported sentence.

The subsidiary conclusion is "consequently" and we know this is a conclusion because it is derived from the previous sentence. We know it's not the final conclusion because the author uses this conclusion to continue his argument.

The "evidently" sentence is another premise because again the author doesn't provide evidence for this assertion.

Then the author uses the first conclusion that children had to crane their necks to reach the final conclusion that children face the same risk as office workers.

It isn't B because whether or not children spend more time at school or home is irrelevant. They still spend time at school craning their necks.

Hope that helps.

Hanin

[sammylsat]

Hello!

Hanin, I appreciate your explanation about why it isn't B -- the elementary school computers are still partly contributing to the neck problem.

However, I identified the conclusion as "[most?] elementary school computers put children at the same risk for repetitive stress injuries as office workers." In other words,

Elementary School Computers --> Neck problems in kids --> Same risk as office workers

I picked B because I thought if children spent more time on their computers at home, then the cause of the neck strain changes -- it's the home computers, not the elementary school computers which mostly contribute the neck strain, therefore destroying the argument.

Not sure what isn't clicking for me. I see why C is correct but I also can't see clearly why B is totally wrong.

Thank you!

[Jeff Wren]

Hi Sammy,

The biggest problem with Answer B is that we do not know (and there is no reason to assume) that the computers at home have the same problem as the computers at school, that specific problem being that the computers at school are too high for the children which led to unhealthy postures. For all we know, the home computers are positioned correctly and are not contributing to the problem whatsoever.

Second, even if the computers at home do contribute to the risk of repetitive stress injuries, that would be in addition to, rather than instead of, the risk of the school computers. In other words, the home computers would not be an alternate cause but an additional cause that would compound the problem. It would still be accurate to describe the school computers as increasing the risk to the students if they are contributing to the problem.

Finally, the conclusion is comparing the students to office workers, and it is possible that office workers also spend more time on their home computers than their work computers. We are told nothing about how many hours office workers work on their work computers versus their home computers and do not want to make assumptions about this.

The better way to prephrase the answer is to focus on the biological differences between children and adults. (As someone over forty, I can attest that my body just doesn't quite function the way it did in my youth.)

[sammylsat]

Wow, thank you so much! I really appreciate your detail and for replying to me!!