PrepTest 132, Section 4, Question 2
To discover what percentage of teenagers believe in(56 more words not shown)
The reasoning above conforms most(9 more words not shown)
- AUncontroversial statements are(3 more words not shown)
- BEvery statement is(4 more words not shown)
- CResponses to surveys(10 more words not shown)
- DResponses people give(9 more words not shown)
- EStatements about psychic(7 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
I can think, “Pick up that pen,” and then pick it up with my hand. My thoughts influenced a physical object. Have I demonstrated a psychic power? Of course not.
That is the problem with this survey. It is supposed to find out whether teenagers believe they can move objects with their minds, without physically touching them. But the actual statement also allows an ordinary reading: thoughts guide actions, and actions move things. Someone could agree with it while rejecting telekinesis completely.
A better question would specify moving an object through thoughts alone. As written, a yes doesn't tell us which meaning the teenager accepted. The sample can represent teenagers perfectly and still fail to answer the researchers' question because the wording is unclear. We aren't deciding whether telekinesis is real; we're deciding whether this survey measures belief in it.
What we’re looking for
The argument's criticism makes sense. Now we need the general idea behind it: when a question allows different readings, the responses may be unclear too. Look for that connection between poor wording and uncertain meaning.
Working the answers
- A
Being uncontroversial isn't the problem. A clear, uncontroversial statement could still give researchers useful information. Here, the ordinary interpretation matters because agreeing with it doesn't reveal agreement with the psychic interpretation the survey was meant to test.
- B
This stretches one example into a claim about every statement. We know this particular wording allows different readings. We have no reason to say that all statements do, and the criticism doesn't need that much broader claim.
- C
We were told what can go wrong with a poorly phrased question. That doesn't guarantee that good phrasing makes every response clear. A respondent might misunderstand even a clear question or give an unclear answer. The argument never promises what C promises.
- DCorrect
Poorly phrased questions can leave us unsure what the responses mean. The pen example shows how: a teenager's agreement could concern ordinary physical action or psychic power. That matches the move from an ambiguous survey statement to ambiguous results.
- E
This statement about psychic ability has an ordinary interpretation. It doesn't follow that every statement about psychic phenomena does. A question expressly asking about moving an object through thoughts alone would avoid the particular ambiguity we've identified.
More Must Be True questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Must Be True questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.