PrepTest 131, Section 1, Question 8
We can now dismiss the widely held suspicion(66 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(8 more words not shown)
- AOnly one of(16 more words not shown)
- BThe consumption of(9 more words not shown)
- CThe consumption of(8 more words not shown)
- DThe study included(16 more words not shown)
- ESome children believe(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
No difference between which groups? All the children in this study have attention deficit disorder. Some receive one of three sugars; the control group receives a sugar substitute. We are comparing sugar with a substitute, not children with the disorder to children without it.
The groups' thinking and behavior do not differ significantly. But what if the substitute also makes the children more hyperactive? Then both groups could be affected, and comparing them would hide the effect we are trying to investigate.
What we’re looking for
Imagine that the sweetness of both products produced the same response. Children given sugar and children given a substitute could behave alike even though both products worsened their symptoms. We need not establish that sweetness actually does this. The possibility shows why “no difference” does not automatically mean “no effect.” To weaken the argument, I would look for evidence that the substitute is not a neutral comparison.
Working the answers
- A
Studying two additional sugars does not invalidate the results for the sugar people suspected. The study includes that suspected sugar too. Which types were widely suspected does not explain why the comparison would fail to detect an effect.
- B
A calming effect on some children does not give us evidence that sugar often worsens hyperactivity in the population discussed. It points in the opposite direction for those children. It also does not expose a problem with using the substitute as a comparison.
- CCorrect
Some substitutes can themselves worsen hyperactivity. That raises the possibility that the control group experienced the very effect we were testing for in the sugar groups. If both the sugar and the substitute made symptoms worse, the groups could look similar while sugar still had the suspected effect. The absence of a difference would then be a poor basis for dismissing the suspicion.
- D
Observing all the groups in an exciting setting does not itself make the comparison defective. Researchers might observe children in a classroom and on a playground or at a trampoline park to see their behavior in different contexts. D does not say that only one group received the exciting conditions or that the conditions concealed a sugar effect.
- E
Believing you can taste the difference is not the same as actually being able to identify which substance you received. And E does not tell us that this belief changed the children's behavior. We would have to add those connections to turn the statement into a problem with the study. C directly raises a problem with the control treatment.
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