PrepTest 127, Section 1, Question 9
In a recent study, each member of two(94 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(18 more words not shown)
- AThere was the(7 more words not shown)
- BThe same group(13 more words not shown)
- CAmong the college(10 more words not shown)
- DBoth groups had(9 more words not shown)
- EThe members of(20 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The older participants were better at placing the calls on time. Was memory the reason? Someone with a poor memory might be excellent at keeping a calendar. Writing down every appointment can produce punctual behavior without showing that the person's memory is especially good.
There are other possibilities too. Perhaps one group had fewer competing commitments. Perhaps some students remembered the call but did not care about completing the study, or felt anxious about making a telephone call. The measured behavior does not automatically tell us why the groups performed differently.
The conclusion is limited to at least one type of memory not declining with age, but even that needs support connecting the calling results to memory and age. We should look for ways to make the comparison fairer and rule out other explanations.
What we’re looking for
Watch “LEAST helpful.” We are choosing the exception: four answers help support the study's inference, and one contributes little or nothing. An answer need not solve every problem to be helpful. It can eliminate just one reason the two groups might not be comparable.
Working the answers
- A
Equal group sizes make the lapse totals more informative. If Group B had fourteen times as many people, fourteen missed calls versus one could represent the same proportion of each group. A rules out that explanation for the raw difference, so it helps.
- BCorrect
The outcome was when each call was initiated, and that time was recorded electronically. Who later answered the telephone does not explain whether a participant started the call on time. The researchers could change without changing the relevant measurement. B does little to connect punctual calling with memory, making it the least helpful fact.
- C
College students are not automatically young adults. A college group could include many older students, which would make its comparison with a group aged 65 to 75 less informative about aging. C establishes that everyone in Group B is 40 or younger, so we really do have distinct age groups. That helps the intended comparison.
- D
A person could remember the assignment perfectly and still fail to make the call without access to a telephone. Giving both groups unrestricted access removes that possible explanation for their different results. It therefore helps connect the lapses to something other than inability to get a phone.
- E
Remembering something you were told five minutes ago is a different task from remembering something assigned years earlier. If one group received much more recent instructions, its better performance might have that explanation. Similar intervals make the memory demands more comparable. E helps, even though it does not by itself establish the conclusion.
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