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Music

by slash » Fri Nov 14, 2008 4:37 am
In an experiment, two different types of recorded music were played for neonates in adjacent nurseries in a hospital. In nursery A, classical music was played; in nursery B, rock music was played. After two weeks, it was found that the babies in nursery A cried less, suffered fewer minor ailments, and gained more weight than did the babies in nursery B.

In evaluating the validity of the conclusion suggested by the experiment above, it would be most important to know which of the following?
(A) The musical preferences of the parents of the two groups of newborns
(B) Whether the newborns in both nurseries were equally healthy and happy at the start of the experiment
(C) Whether loud rock music can damage the hearing of newborns
(D) What the average weight of the neonates was before and after the experiment
(E) Whether the music was played in the nurseries at all times or only at certain times


OA is B and why not E[/spoiler]
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by raunekk » Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:45 am
imo:B

only if the babies in both the nursery were same than only we can draw the conclusion on the basis of the effect of the kind of music..

what if the babies of A were already happy and health than the babies of B from the start..

than we cannot conclude tat classical music is beneficial..
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by raunekk » Fri Nov 14, 2008 9:07 am
opps i didnt see your question,,,

why not E
1)suppose its been played through out the day...
This might affect the neonates of nursery B where rock music is played....accepted!!!


Now,

2)what if the music is played only for one hour or fifteen mins...

We cannot guarantee that neonates are affected by this...
especially neonates of nursery B

So no concrete conclusion can be drawn...

3)what if the music is played for a long time in nursery A and a short time for nursery B.

we can say that neonates were affected by classical music but we cannot draw a conclusion that rock music affected them..

there might be some other factors that have been the cause of the condition of neonates of nursery B.

Or for that matter..
4)if music is played for a short time in A and a longer time in B.


i hope this helps...

lemme know if any doubt..
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by anand.neelakantan » Sat Nov 15, 2008 9:24 pm
I wud go for B.

Reason:
The condition of the new borns at the start of the experiment must be know as is it not mentioned in the question. Any other argument holds true only when this is knows. and without this information, the argument is baseless.
And do remember the question is which of the following is MOST IMPORTANT.

Please do post the correct answer.
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by EricLien9122 » Sat Nov 15, 2008 10:58 pm
This is an experiment type question. The experiment usually assume their "data" or result is representative.

The conclusion: A with classic: cried less, fewer ailments, and more weights than B with rock music.

In answer E, does it matter if music were play at different time? The experiment was testing the effect on babies b/w rock and classical, and the timing has no impact on the experiment. (out of scope)

In answer B, if the control group (let's say A), and the experimental group (let's call it B) are not same at the beginning, then the argument is not valid. Let's say if A were given better and more food than B, then A has an advantage over B. Thus, classical music is not "better" for babies than rock if the B is not true.

I hope this makes sense, please comments if you find a logical error or an easier way to determine the right answer.
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Re: Music

by stop@800 » Sun Nov 16, 2008 2:23 am
slash wrote:In an experiment, two different types of recorded music were played for neonates in adjacent nurseries in a hospital. In nursery A, classical music was played; in nursery B, rock music was played. After two weeks, it was found that the babies in nursery A cried less, suffered fewer minor ailments, and gained more weight than did the babies in nursery B.

In evaluating the validity of the conclusion suggested by the experiment above, it would be most important to know which of the following?
(A) The musical preferences of the parents of the two groups of newborns
(B) Whether the newborns in both nurseries were equally healthy and happy at the start of the experiment
(C) Whether loud rock music can damage the hearing of newborns
(D) What the average weight of the neonates was before and after the experiment
(E) Whether the music was played in the nurseries at all times or only at certain times


OA is B and why not E[/spoiler]
E says music was played at all times or at certain times
if you read argument carefully, you will realize the duration does not matter.
Whatever time it was, be it 1 hr or 24 hrs, it was same in both
so this point does not matter

Hope this helps!!!
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by nicolette » Fri May 13, 2016 2:11 am
Option A looks good than other answers
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