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There is a great deal of geographical variation

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There is a great deal of geographical variation

by krisraam » Tue Mar 10, 2009 5:36 pm
There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of many surgical
procedures—up to tenfold variation per hundred thousand between different areas
in the numbers of hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies.
To support a conclusion that much of the variation is due to unnecessary surgical
procedures, it would be most important to establish which of the following?
(A) A local board of review at each hospital examines the records of every
operation to determine whether the surgical procedure was necessary.
(B) The variation is unrelated to factors (other than the surgical procedures
themselves) that influence the incidence of diseases for which surgery might
be considered.
(C) There are several categories of surgical procedure (other than hysterectomies,
prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies) that are often performed unnecessarily.
(D) For certain surgical procedures, it is difficult to determine after the operation
whether the procedures were necessary or whether alternative treatment
would have succeeded.
(E) With respect to how often they are performed unnecessarily, hysterectomies,
prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies are representative of surgical
procedures in general.
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by S0laris » Wed Mar 11, 2009 2:15 am
IMO its' E, not really sure, just a hunch, E represents the scope of required patterns to determine: unnecessary preformance, exact list of diseases, and whether illnesses require surgical intervention.
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by usualsuspect » Wed Mar 11, 2009 4:16 am
IMO, its E.
The author talks about surgical procedures in general and sites the 3 surgerys as examples.
So, for concluding that there are unnecessary variations, E should hold true.
The argument would fail , if only hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies had unnecessary variations and the rest of surgery procedures were very simple.
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by tanviet » Wed Mar 11, 2009 8:42 pm
I do not understand this argument. Anyone can explain, pls, help
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by bmlaud » Thu Mar 12, 2009 1:29 am
IMO E

The specific surgeries should first be a representative sample of the Unnecessary Surgeries then only some thing can be concluded.
"Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance."
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by S0laris » Thu Mar 12, 2009 2:07 am
duongthang wrote:I do not understand this argument. Anyone can explain, pls, help
Seems like argument is combined(stimulus+question):
stimulus: there is a great "standard deviation" in number of sergical operations across many regions.
conclusion: ...much of the variation is due to unnecessary surgical
procedures...
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by Rashmi1804 » Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:30 am
IMO B
I never got it in the first shot!!
I think the problem with this Q is that it is very dense and purposefully made look complicated!!

anyways,
Q. There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of many surgical procedures—up to tenfold variation per hundred thousand between different areas in the numbers of hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies.

briefly, there is a great deal of diff in the number of surgeries(tht are done) among different areas. Passage claims that it is because of unnecessary surgeries that the number differs greatly among different areas[ and that there are no real or genuine factors that effect the no. of surgeries differently at different locations]

In order to strengthen the conclusion that " Difference in number of surgeries among different areas is only due to unnecessary surgeries..we need to prove that OTHER FACTORS , that are capable of effecting no. of surgeries differently at different places, are not effecting the no. of surgeries differently.

Hence, B is the right option. B.
"The variation is unrelated to factors (other than the surgical procedures themselves) that influence the incidence of diseases for which surgery might be considered."

Careful guys....E is a proper trap!!

(E) With respect to how often they are performed unnecessarily, hysterectomies,prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies are representative of surgicalprocedures in general
THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT ANSWER BECAUSE TO CONSIDER THAT THESE THREE SURGERIES ARE THE REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF ALL THE SURGERIES....FIRST WE NEED TO ESTABLISH THAT THE CLAIMS ABOUT THESE THREE ARE TRUE. AND THEN USE THE REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE TO ALLEGE ABOUT ALL SURGERIES.
however, the passage doesnt claim about ALL SURGERIES...but only about " MANY surgeries"...so we are not bothered about the generalizing the claims.
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by way2ashish » Tue Apr 30, 2013 4:44 am
B is the correct answer
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by theunheardmelody » Tue Apr 30, 2013 9:10 am
IMO B...OA please .
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by David@VeritasPrep » Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:15 am
OA is B. This is from the OG 10 edition.

I see that this is an older thread - from 2009! I actually answered this question before in this thread https://www.beatthegmat.com/geographic-v ... tml#343608

Here is the relevant part...

"This is a special type of the strengthen question where the conclusion is in the question stem. Please be on the lookout for this as it occurs fairly regularly.

The conclusion is "much of the variation is due to unnecessary surgical procedures" This indicates a cause and effect relationship. We are, in effect, saying that the reason that there is a geographical variation in the listed procedures is because in the areas where more procedures are performed many of those procedures are not necessary.

Now there could be other reasons for a variation in the number of surgeries. For example, the new natural gas wells that are being drilled in people's back yards have been proven to contaminate the water supply and so it would be very reasonable to see additional cases of cancer and therefore additional procedures near these poisonous wells. So that would be another cause not unnecessary procedures, but variations in the toxicity of various places around the U.S. (or the world depending on how you read the question).

In order to strengthen a question that involves cause and effect, you will want to consider the possibility of blocking an alternate cause. In this case we are saying the cause is the "unnecessary procedures" so we want to block the things that would make these procedures necessary - like variations in the age of the population, the health of the people, the quality of the water, even the ability of the people to pay for the procedures.

Answer Choice B does this. It says, "The variation is unrelated to factors (other than the surgical procedures themselves) that influence the incidence of diseases for which surgery might be considered." So this blocks the idea that the cause of varying rates of procedures would be any of the factors (age, health, toxins) etc. mentioned above. So we strengthen one cause by blocking another."
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by Venkitaraman » Mon Oct 13, 2014 10:06 am
Thanks David for that detailed explanation.
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by vid_800 » Fri Sep 16, 2016 12:21 pm
Hi David,

Sorry for opening this old thread.

I understand the option B seals off an alternate cause to the effect and hence very well supports the conclusion.

But Can we discuss option A here? What role does it play. I have been reading some explanations and some says its an OFS. But I disagree.

I see option A as strengthener. We are told that Variation is happening because of unnecessary surgeries. So we know that this is true and we need to find an option which tells us yes it is indeed the cause.

Option A present a way through which we can prove - yes the records indicate the surgeries performed were indeed unnecessary. Will this not act as strengthener.

Looking at the OA - I now feel this question as find an assumption rather than strengthener.

Will it be a good approach to negate the options even for strengthener question?
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