PrepTest 116, Section 2, Question 21
Curator: A magazine recently ran a very misleading(57 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- AIt is misleading(18 more words not shown)
- BIt is misleading(25 more words not shown)
- CIt is misleading(23 more words not shown)
- DIt is misleading(16 more words not shown)
- EIt is misleading(17 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Three angry residents aren't necessarily the voice of the town. What if the magazine found the three people protesting outside while everyone else liked the exhibit?
Now we learn that the three residents are close friends. That gives us another reason to question the sample. Friends may share outlooks, so interviewing one group of friends isn't necessarily a good way to learn what the broader community thinks.
Still, the town might really oppose the exhibit. The friendship doesn't prove the quoted opinions are unusual or that the magazine's suggestion is false. What makes me suspicious is presenting this limited group as evidence of most residents' views without mentioning their relationship.
What we’re looking for
We need a principle that helps justify calling the story misleading. I'd look for a rule about presenting these interviews as representative while leaving out a reason to question that representation. The answer needs to fit what happened here, not just describe some other way reporting can be misleading.
Working the answers
- A
The magazine isn't presenting the residents as art experts. It's using their reactions to suggest what local residents think. Whether they have special expertise doesn't address the problem with treating this friend group as a sample of the town.
- B
We aren't told the population is likely to be evenly divided. Maybe nearly everyone supports the exhibit; maybe nearly everyone opposes it. B needs a fact about the town's division that the argument doesn't provide.
- C
The exception matters. C says this presentation is misleading unless the opinions are widely held. We don't know whether they are widely held. The curator's evidence is that the people quoted are friends, not that their opinions are uncommon. That evidence gives us a reason to question the sample without establishing the condition C needs.
- D
The friends really do agree in the quotations. The magazine doesn't reason that their friendship means they must agree; it doesn't even mention the friendship. Its suggested leap is from their opinions to most residents' opinions. D describes a different inference.
- ECorrect
The three friends are a potentially unrepresentative sample, yet the quotations are presented to suggest what most local residents think. E says that presentation is misleading, which supports the curator's conclusion.
Potentially matters. We don't have to prove that the town disagrees with these residents. Even if the story happens to suggest the right overall result, E condemns presenting a questionable sample as representative. That is why it fits the evidence better than C, which would require knowing whether the opinions are widely held.
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