College students

[vscid]

A recent study of college students shows that, contrary to predicted results, special nutritional planning does not positively affect students' grades. Sixty students, half of whom were given a nutritionally balanced diet, had grades no higher than did those students who were not placed on the diet plan.

Which of the following, if true, is most useful in determining the accuracy of the study described above?


1]Performance of business executives was shown to improve drastically after major alterations were made in their diets.

2]Honors students, after altering their diets, maintained that they did not change their study habits.

3]Students who participated in various fitness regimens found that their grades improved appreciably after they altered their exercise habits.

4]High school students who previously had low grades found that after they altered their diets, their grades improved dramatically.

5]All of the college students who volunteered for the study were either in their first or second year of college.

[onedayi'll]

choice b: does not say anything about the grades obtained by honor students after changing diet, so it provides no data for evaluation.

choice e: the topic is about special diet having some effect on grades.

choice e talks about the people who took part in the survey. wht difference does it make whether they were first year/second year or third year sudent . so this answer is nowhere the correct answer.


Only Choice D echoes

[[email protected]]

On D...There is a before Vs after comparison on the same group of students to show the effect of the plan..

[hrishi19884]

A recent study of college students shows that, contrary to predicted results, special nutritional planning does not positively affect students' grades. Sixty students, half of whom were given a nutritionally balanced diet, had grades no higher than did those students who were not placed on the diet plan.

Which of the following, if true, is most useful in determining the accuracy of the study described above?


1]Performance of business executives was shown to improve drastically after major alterations were made in their diets.

2]Honors students, after altering their diets, maintained that they did not change their study habits.

3]Students who participated in various fitness regimens found that their grades improved appreciably after they altered their exercise habits.

4]High school students who previously had low grades found that after they altered their diets, their grades improved dramatically.

5]All of the college students who volunteered for the study were either in their first or second year of college.

The only reason that can weaken the conclusion drawn by the author is - if we are able to prove that the grades of the students who were given "nutritional diet" were earlier less than the other "non nutritional diet" students.

D -correctly states "who previously had low grades" indicating the same thing above - hence weakens the statement a one shot.

[nervesofsteel]

IMO B.. it shows that students didn't change their study habit...
so the diet has no effect as stated in conclusion..

but in D it says high school students.. i am not clear if they were covered in survey..

i am not clear about this question...????

[hrishi19884]

IMO B.. it shows that students didn't change their study habit...
so the diet has no effect as stated in conclusion..

but in D it says high school students.. i am not clear if they were covered in survey..

i am not clear about this question...????

Whether it is "students" or "high school students" ....basically they are all "students"

so no reason for fighting on it.

[sadullaevd]

I'm stuck on this one, no clue,

cant find any suitable answer,

could any expert take a look at this CR question, plz?

Whats OA, by the way.

[komal]

A recent study of college students shows that, contrary to predicted results, special nutritional planning does not positively affect students' grades. Sixty students, half of whom were given a nutritionally balanced diet, had grades no higher than did those students who were not placed on the diet plan.

Which of the following, if true, is most useful in determining the accuracy of the study described above?

1]Performance of business executives was shown to improve drastically after major alterations were made in their diets.
Incorrect : This strengthens the argument by showing that their performance IMPROVED.

2]Honors students, after altering their diets, maintained that they did not change their study habits.
Correct : This is most useful in determining the accuracy of the study described above because it supports the conclusion that special diets does not positively affect students grades

3]Students who participated in various fitness regimens found that their grades improved appreciably after they altered their exercise habits.
Incorrect : Issue is not about altering Exercise habits, it is about altering Dietary habits

4]High school students who previously had low grades found that after they altered their diets, their grades improved dramatically.
Incorrect : Again this is contradictory to what is stated in the conclusion. Eliminated.

5]All of the college students who volunteered for the study were either in their first or second year of college.
Incorrect : Out of scope

Hope this helps : )

[harshavardhanc]

IMO B.. it shows that students didn't change their study habit...
so the diet has no effect as stated in conclusion..

but in D it says high school students.. i am not clear if they were covered in survey..

i am not clear about this question...????

Whether it is "students" or "high school students" ....basically they are all "students"

so no reason for fighting on it.

nervesofsteel has a vaild concern. Details like these ("students" and "high school students") define the scope of each option and hence, help us to eliminate irrelevant choices.

But here, I think we will have to consider them as same and hence, IMO D will be the credited response .

Also, in my view, the question doesn't seem to be a part of CR questions from a reputable source like Kap, Manh, Prince, the Bible or Gprep....

OA and source please !

[harshavardhanc]

A recent study of college students shows that, contrary to predicted results, special nutritional planning does not positively affect students' grades. Sixty students, half of whom were given a nutritionally balanced diet, had grades no higher than did those students who were not placed on the diet plan.

Which of the following, if true, is most useful in determining the accuracy of the study described above?

1]Performance of business executives was shown to improve drastically after major alterations were made in their diets.
Incorrect : This strengthens the argument by showing that their performance IMPROVED.

2]Honors students, after altering their diets, maintained that they did not change their study habits.
Correct : This is most useful in determining the accuracy of the study described above because it supports the conclusion that special diets does not positively affect students grades

3]Students who participated in various fitness regimens found that their grades improved appreciably after they altered their exercise habits.
Incorrect : Issue is not about altering Exercise habits, it is about altering Dietary habits

4]High school students who previously had low grades found that after they altered their diets, their grades improved dramatically.
Incorrect : Again this is contradictory to what is stated in the conclusion. Eliminated.

5]All of the college students who volunteered for the study were either in their first or second year of college.
Incorrect : Out of scope

Hope this helps : )

"determining accuracy" doesn't necessarily mean that we have to prove the conclusion as a correct one. Any option, if true, which can destroy the conclusion can also be the correct answer. In that case, we can confidently say that the study is not accurate.

If option 2 would have stated

" Honors students, after altering their diets, said that their grades did not change significantly" would have lent support to the conclusion, but would not have proved/disproved it completely.

OR,

"Honors students, who were part of the study, after altering their diets, maintained that they did not change their study habits."

would have certainly made us to think about the accuracy and would, in that case, have become the correct option. But neither is the case.

oooooooh..... I'm more confused now.


Anyway, let's see what's the OA . :roll:

[VikingWarrior]

My answer is B.
It helps remove a bias from the study and keeps the study statistically objective and standardized.
In D, one is basically refuting the conclusion of the study which is silly and of course D does nothing to add to the accuracy of this study (on 60 students). d is the result of another independent study.
If D is true then it does not tell us about the accuracy of this study but it provides contrary results to this study.

[harshavardhanc]

My answer is B.
It helps remove a bias from the study and keeps the study statistically objective and standardized.
In D, one is basically refuting the conclusion of the study which is silly and of course D does nothing to add to the accuracy of this study (on 60 students). d is the result of another independent study.
If D is true then it does not tell us about the accuracy of this study but it provides contrary results to this study.

precisely my friend! that's what I said in a post above yours. any option which can prove that the study results were wrong, will also help us find that the study was inaccurate ( you've determined the accuracy here as well).

[VikingWarrior]

precisely my friend! that's what I said in a post above yours. any option which can prove that the study results were wrong, will also help us find that the study was inaccurate ( you've determined the accuracy here as well).

Ok, this is my last post regarding this question. Let's say that:
Study A shows result as positive.
Study B shows result as negative.
What tools does one have to prove which study is correct and which is not?
Ans: Statistics.
If study B is unbiased and performed on a large enough sample with proper application of other statistical tools then study B may be considered correct

In this question (option D) how do you know How many high school students who previously had low grades found that after they altered their diets, their grades improved dramatically. this one is akin to study A...study B is akin to the conclusion in the Q stem...

Study A does not help us understand the accuracy of study B. Study B is independent of study A and we do not know how accurate study A was.
What we do know is that if we can eliminate a bias from study B then that study becomes more accurate...
The bias that was removed by option B was the fact that the students who altered their diets did not start studying more than they used to earlier hence proving that on its own, diet alteration doesn't get you good grades.

[vaivish]

B doesnt say anything about the results after the change in the diet plan. But D indicates the change in results after change in diet. Hence D is OA

[harsh.champ]

A recent study of college students shows that, contrary to predicted results, special nutritional planning does not positively affect students' grades. Sixty students, half of whom were given a nutritionally balanced diet, had grades no higher than did those students who were not placed on the diet plan.

Which of the following, if true, is most useful in determining the accuracy of the study described above?


1]Performance of business executives was shown to improve drastically after major alterations were made in their diets.[It is opposing the para,not helpful]

2]Honors students, after altering their diets, maintained that they did not change their study habits. [Supportive statement as their study habits do not change]

3]Students who participated in various fitness regimens found that their grades improved appreciably after they altered their exercise habits. [It is opposing the para,not helpful]

4]High school students who previously had low grades found that after they altered their diets, their grades improved dramatically. [This also opposing the paragraph]

5]All of the college students who volunteered for the study were either in their first or second year of college.
[arbiter statement -no use knowing whethet they were in 1st,2nd or 3rd yr][spoiler]
IMO ans is B.[/spoiler]