PrepTest 132, Section 2, Question 16
Tissue biopsies taken on patients who have undergone(40 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(6 more words not shown)
- AThe study relied(12 more words not shown)
- BThe patients' throat(11 more words not shown)
- CAll of the(14 more words not shown)
- DPeople who have(17 more words not shown)
- EThe abnormalities in(11 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What if the damaged throat causes the snoring?
The study finds the two together: frequent snorers are more likely to have serious throat-muscle abnormalities. That fits the author's story that snoring damages the throat. But it also fits the story running the other way: an existing abnormality could make someone snore. Seeing both doesn't tell us which came first or caused the other.
What we’re looking for
There are other questions we could ask about this group of surgery patients. Maybe some third factor explains the connection, or the way patients were selected matters. But the strongest immediate objection is the direction of the proposed cause. To strengthen the argument, I'd like evidence that throat damage isn't causing the snoring. Evidence of how snoring produces damage could also help. We need support for this direction, not just another statement that the two go together.
Working the answers
- A
Using people's own accounts doesn't show that snoring causes damage. We might question how accurately people know or remember their snoring, but we don't have to declare every self-report false. The answer supplies no reason to favor the author's causal explanation.
- B
This may ease a concern about why the patients entered the study, but it doesn't explain why frequent snorers had more abnormalities than the other patients. Both groups underwent surgery. Knowing that surgery wasn't intended to treat those abnormalities leaves the direction between snoring and damage unresolved.
- C
This does help somewhat. Imagine all the frequent snorers were around 70, while the other patients were much younger. Age could then be a possible explanation for the difference in muscle condition. Similar ages, weights, and general health make those competing explanations less concerning.
But similar groups can still contain people whose throat abnormalities cause their snoring. C doesn't address that direct alternative to the author's story. E does, making it the stronger answer.
- D
This compares surgery patients with people who haven't had surgery. Our question concerns why snoring and throat damage are linked within the group studied. Equal rates of snoring in the two larger populations wouldn't determine which condition causes the other.
- ECorrect
The abnormalities don't cause the snoring. That removes the alternative we identified: perhaps the throat problem came first and produced the symptom. Once that explanation is ruled out, the observed association gives more support to snoring causing damage. It still doesn't prove that every other explanation is impossible, but proof isn't required to strengthen the argument.
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