PrepTest 111, Section 1, Question 9
Researcher: The rate of psychological problems is higher(78 more words not shown)
The assertion that children of(23 more words not shown)
- AIt is the(4 more words not shown)
- BIt is the(7 more words not shown)
- CIt is offered(16 more words not shown)
- DIt is offered(13 more words not shown)
- EIt is cited(11 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why assume the divorce itself caused the children's problems? Something already happening in the household could contribute both to the divorce and to the problems.
The researcher makes that same distinction. The higher rate is accepted, but the explanation is open to question. The passage offers one alternative: children might learn hostility, distrust or a lack of empathy from their parents, and those behaviors could account for the problems. Within this account, the behaviors also make divorce more likely, which explains why the two outcomes appear together.
What we’re looking for
I'd want more evidence before deciding what actually causes the difference. The researcher leaves room for that caution by saying the alternative is “just as reasonable,” rather than claiming to have proved it. Now the question asks what role the opening finding plays. It is the observation the researcher is trying to explain. Keep that observation separate from the competing stories about why it occurs.
Working the answers
- A
The higher rate is the starting point. The researcher then argues about how to explain it, warning against one causal conclusion and offering an alternative. The rest of the passage isn't trying to prove that the rate is higher, so the finding isn't its conclusion.
- B
The researcher doesn't deny the finding. What is challenged is the explanation that difficulty adjusting to divorce causes the psychological problems. Accepting a difference between groups and questioning why it exists are perfectly compatible.
- C
This assigns the finding the role the researcher warns us against giving it. The passage says it would be a mistake to use the higher rate to conclude that adjusting to divorce causes the problems. It isn't presenting the rate to establish that divorce harms the children.
- D
The proposed alternative includes behaviors that increase the likelihood of divorce. But the children's higher rate of problems isn't presented as proof that those behaviors cause divorces. The behaviors are part of the explanation offered for the observed association, not a claim established by that observation.
- ECorrect
The higher rate is treated as an established finding, and the researcher proposes an explanation for it. If the relevant behaviors both increase divorce risk and are learned by the children, the association could arise without the adjustment to divorce being the cause.
That is why the role is “finding to explain.” The argument keeps the observation and changes the possible explanation; it doesn't reject the observation or try to prove it from the later claims.
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