PrepTest 113, Section 2, Question 14
In response to office workers' worries about the(61 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(7 more words not shown)
- AFew of the(13 more words not shown)
- BIn their study(16 more words not shown)
- CPrevious studies have(13 more words not shown)
- DOffice workers who(18 more words not shown)
- EOffice workers who(17 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
How accurately could you remember a whole year's screen time and headaches? These aren't measurements taken as the year unfolded. They're workers' estimates afterward. Before trusting the pattern, I'd want to know whether those estimates are reliable.
Even an accurate pattern wouldn't settle what caused it. Perhaps the jobs involving more screen use were also more stressful, and stress accounted for the headaches. That is a possible alternative to investigate, not something the study has established.
What we’re looking for
The question asks us to weaken the researchers' conclusion that the terminals cause headaches. Either problem could matter: the reported connection might be misleading, or something other than the terminals might explain it. Look for a specific reason the survey doesn't support the causal claim as well as the researchers think.
Working the answers
- A
We don't know how participation in health programs relates to headaches or to terminal use. Saying few workers took part doesn't distinguish the frequent terminal users from the other workers in a relevant way. Without that connection, A gives no explanation for the reported difference and no clear reason to distrust it.
- B
The conclusion is that terminals cause headaches, not specifically severe migraines. A study could group mild and severe headaches together and still provide evidence about whether headaches occur more often. Failing to separate severity doesn't, by itself, undermine the reported frequency difference.
- C
Eyestrain is another possible effect of screen use, but this choice doesn't show that the headache comparison was mistaken or that something else caused the headaches. We also shouldn't add an unstated medical rule that eyestrain necessarily causes headaches. At most, C is compatible with a problem associated with screen use; it doesn't weaken this causal claim.
- DCorrect
The reporting problem isn't random. The people with frequent headaches are especially likely to inflate their estimates of terminal use. That can make headaches appear connected with high use even when the reported difference in use isn't accurate.
Imagine two workers who actually use terminals for similar amounts of time. If the worker with frequent headaches reports far more screen time, the survey records a relationship their actual screen use wouldn't support. D doesn't prove every estimate is false or that terminals never cause headaches. It gives us a concrete reason to distrust the evidence offered for that conclusion.
- E
This removes the stress difference we had considered as a possible alternative explanation. If regular users and nonusers experience the same amount of job stress, greater stress among users can't explain their higher headache frequency. That would help protect the researchers' conclusion against this particular objection, not weaken it.
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