PrepTest 119, Section 3, Question 17
Traditionally, students at Kelly University have evaluated professors(69 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(7 more words not shown)
- AProfessors who distribute(13 more words not shown)
- BStudents can wisely(12 more words not shown)
- CThe traditional system(11 more words not shown)
- DNearly all professors(19 more words not shown)
- EDissatisfied students are(13 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Making the survey easier to fill out doesn't guarantee that the responses will represent everyone.
The old system has obvious problems: some professors don't hand out the forms, some hand them out selectively, and some students miss the last class. Computerized evaluations remove those particular obstacles. But who will actually choose to respond? I didn't always fill out course evaluations in college, even when there was an incentive. Students with strong feelings might be much more motivated than students who are reasonably content and don't think about the survey.
The anytime option raises another question. Does someone in the first week know enough to judge a professor? Keep that concern separate from the conclusion, though. The author promises an accurate picture of student opinion, not a perfect assessment of the professor's actual ability. A survey could faithfully record an uninformed opinion.
What we’re looking for
For the required assumption, I'd focus on who participates. If dissatisfied students are much more likely to respond, the results could make dissatisfaction look more widespread than it is. Fixing the old collection method wouldn't fix that new imbalance.
Working the answers
- A
The professors might favor students they like, or they might select students for some other reason. Either way, explaining the old selection process doesn't establish that voluntary computer responses will accurately reflect all students' views. The argument doesn't require this particular reason for the old bias.
- B
This addresses our concern about early judgments, but notice what must be accurate: the picture of student opinion. Students could have shallow or poorly informed opinions, and the survey could still represent those opinions faithfully. Wise, insightful judgments of the professor are different from representative measurement of what students think. B isn't required for the latter.
- C
The conclusion concerns the accuracy of the new system at Kelly. It doesn't condemn the traditional system at every university. Other schools might administer paper forms differently and obtain representative results. The argument doesn't need this universal recommendation against paper evaluations.
- D
Why some professors withhold forms isn't the missing link. They might expect criticism, forget, or have another reason. None of those possibilities tells us whether the new respondents will be representative. The argument needn't establish this motive for nearly all non-distributing professors.
- ECorrect
This rules out the particular response imbalance we identified. If dissatisfied students were generally more likely to submit evaluations, their views would be overrepresented and the survey would distort the distribution of opinion.
E doesn't prove that every other possible source of bias has disappeared. It supplies something this claim of accurate representation needs: the new system cannot systematically draw disproportionately from dissatisfied students. Removing obstacles to participation isn't enough if the people who choose to participate are still unrepresentative.
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