PrepTest 143, Section 1, Question 24
Researcher: People who participate in opinion surveys often(74 more words not shown)
The reasoning in the researcher's(11 more words not shown)
- Aan opinion survey(24 more words not shown)
- Bwhen people who(18 more words not shown)
- Cmany opinion surveyors(13 more words not shown)
- Dsome people who(17 more words not shown)
- Ethe answers of(17 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What if respondents invent the expectation for themselves?
Imagine a respondent who privately doubts the moon landing but assumes the interviewer expects people to accept it. The question could be perfectly neutral. The respondent might still give the answer they think will sound acceptable instead of reporting their actual belief. We don't have to know what the interviewer really thinks for that possibility to arise.
What we’re looking for
That's the difference between giving no clue and creating no expectation. Neutral wording removes one source of a respondent's guess; it doesn't prevent the respondent from guessing. The researcher concludes that a desire to meet expectations will have no effect at all. For the flaw, I'd look for the possibility that an imagined expectation can still influence the answer.
Working the answers
- A
The researcher doesn't conclude that well-constructed surveys are flawless. A survey could have an unrelated problem, such as an unsuitable sample, while avoiding the particular influence under discussion. We need a problem with the claim about respondents trying to meet expectations.
- B
Strong-minded respondents who resist influence aren't the problem for this conclusion. The issue is whether other respondents could still alter their answers to meet an expectation they imagine. B doesn't show that the researcher's proposed wording fails to remove that influence.
- C
A surveyor could have no expected answer and a respondent could still think otherwise. What matters is the respondent's belief, not whether it accurately describes the surveyor. C doesn't establish that respondents stop trying to give an expected answer when the surveyor has no actual expectation.
- D
Deliberately thwarting an expectation is different from trying to meet it. The conclusion concerns the latter desire. D describes people who know an expected answer and purposefully choose against it; it doesn't identify how a desire to satisfy an imagined expectation could survive neutral wording.
- ECorrect
Respondents can act on beliefs about what the surveyor wants even when those beliefs have no basis. That directly answers the researcher's claim: wording that provides no indication of an expected answer doesn't prevent someone from imagining one and responding accordingly. The original source of distortion can remain even after the wording is improved.
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