PrepTest 130, Section 3, Question 12
Researcher: A number of studies have suggested that,(56 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(8 more words not shown)
- AThe methods by(21 more words not shown)
- BOn average, clients(20 more words not shown)
- CThe studies found(25 more words not shown)
- DThe specific techniques(12 more words not shown)
- EMore-experienced therapists tend(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Different kinds of short-term psychotherapy produce similar average improvements. That could make a shared explanation seem plausible: perhaps having someone listen and pay attention is what helps in each case.
But equal results don't require identical routes. Two people could earn the same salary while doing completely different jobs. Or two neighbors could arrive at the same grocery store, one in a car and the other in a truck. The common destination doesn't establish a common vehicle.
What we’re looking for
Likewise, imagine one therapy helps through attentive listening and another through an opportunity to express pent-up concerns. Even if we gave both improvements the same score, that wouldn't establish that the improvements came from a feature shared by both treatments. That's the possibility I'd want a weakener to support: different features producing similar outcomes.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
This exposes a further problem: the study's measured improvement isn't necessarily all the improvement that occurred. The studies mainly measured immediate symptom relief and omitted other important kinds of progress.
Now compare that with the conclusion's 'any client improvement.' Two therapies could look similar on the measured symptom relief while producing different additional benefits through their distinctive methods. The study wouldn't capture that difference. So the equal measured results don't justify attributing every kind of improvement to features common to all therapies. We can accept the reported measurements while questioning the much broader conclusion drawn from them.
- B
Better results from long-term treatment don't tell us what causes improvement during short-term treatment. The argument could be right or wrong about the shared features of short-term therapy regardless of whether another year of treatment produces more progress.
- C
Similar results from a trained counselor and an untrained listener are compatible with the researcher's proposed explanation: perhaps the presence of someone paying attention matters more than specialized training. This doesn't prove that account, but it supplies no reason to reject it. The comparison doesn't establish that different therapeutic features are causing the improvement.
- D
Different techniques don't necessarily produce different effects. The therapies could vary dramatically in their exercises and interventions yet still share listening and attention, and those shared features could be what helps. D describes differences in what therapists do without showing that those differences contribute to the results.
- E
A broader repertoire of techniques isn't evidence about which techniques produce improvement. Experienced therapists could use more methods while their clients still benefit from the same shared feature as other clients. Like D, this needs a connection between the different techniques and the beneficial effects.
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