Health Officials

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Health Officials

by aj5105 » Mon Jun 08, 2009 9:22 pm
The number of people diagnosed as having a certain intestinal disease has dropped significantly in a rural county this year, as compared to last year. Health officials attribute this decrease entirely to improved sanitary conditions at water-treatment plants, which made for cleaner water this year and thus reduced the incidence of the disease.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the health officials’ explanation for the lower incidence of the disease?

A. Many new water-treatment plants have been built in the last five years in the rural county.

B. Bottled spring water has not been consumed in significantly different quantities by people diagnosed as having the intestinal disease, as compared to people who did not contract the disease.

C. Because of a new diagnostic technique, many people who until this year would have been diagnosed as having the intestinal disease are now correctly diagnosed as suffering from intestinal ulcers.

D. Because of medical advances this year, far fewer people who contract the intestinal disease will develop severe cases of the disease.

E. The water in the rural county was brought up to the sanitary standards of the water in neighboring counties ten years ago.
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by hetavdave » Mon Jun 08, 2009 10:17 pm
It's C for sure.

C states that the decrease in no of intestinal disease diagnosed has gone down not due to improved sanitary condition but due to the fact that last year many cases were "wrongly" classified as intestinal disease instead of intestinal ulcers.

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Explanation of Answer: Weakening Qs

by turbo jet » Mon Jun 08, 2009 10:26 pm
We should focus on the conclusion. The answer will be a new premise that will weaken the logic in the argument. Special emphasis should also be placed on the scope and tone of the stimulus while choosing the correct answer choice

The argument states that there is only one reason for the conclusion to be true. If we can provide some other reason that will also result in the conclusion to be true, the health official's explanation can be weakened.
(Tip: Spot the causal flaw)

Wrong choices:
A&B: Out of context. Eliminate
D talks of severity of disease. Out of context. Eliminate
E talks of comparison with neighbouring countries. We cannot assume that intestinal disease has reduced in neighbouring countries. We are only talking about rural country. Hence eliminate


Ans(C). Correct- Qs stimulus provides only one cause for decrease in intestinal disease cases. If we can provide one more cause for the conclusion (drop in intestinal disease cases) to be true, the argument will be weakened. Answer C provides another cause that explains the conclusion (Conclusion:Cases of intestinal disease has reduced over last year.)
(Tip: Causal Flaw)


Cheers
Turbo Jet





:)
Last edited by turbo jet on Mon Jun 08, 2009 10:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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by wishkaro » Mon Jun 08, 2009 10:28 pm
Techniqe to solve this kind of questions

A --> B (A cause B)

Clear water --> reduced the incidence of the disease

ways to weaken

B happened but A doesn't happen (A doen't cause B)
C happened and B also happen (C Cause B)

Hence C

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by aj5105 » Tue Jun 09, 2009 1:35 am
nice explanation.

!wish karo, dish karo!
wishkaro wrote:Techniqe to solve this kind of questions

A --> B (A cause B)

Clear water --> reduced the incidence of the disease

ways to weaken

B happened but A doesn't happen (A doen't cause B)
C happened and B also happen (C Cause B)

Hence C

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by aj5105 » Tue Jun 09, 2009 1:36 am
nice explanation.

!wish karo, dish karo!
wishkaro wrote:Techniqe to solve this kind of questions

A --> B (A cause B)

Clear water --> reduced the incidence of the disease

ways to weaken

B happened but A doesn't happen (A doen't cause B)
C happened and B also happen (C Cause B)

Hence C

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Great post

by turbo jet » Tue Jun 09, 2009 1:43 am
Great Post wishkaro!!!
Cheers
Turbo Jet


wishkaro wrote:Techniqe to solve this kind of questions

A --> B (A cause B)

Clear water --> reduced the incidence of the disease

ways to weaken

B happened but A doesn't happen (A doen't cause B)
C happened and B also happen (C Cause B)

Hence C

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by catennacio » Sun Apr 22, 2012 11:01 pm
hetavdave wrote:It's C for sure.

C states that the decrease in no of intestinal disease diagnosed has gone down not due to improved sanitary condition but due to the fact that last year many cases were "wrongly" classified as intestinal disease instead of intestinal ulcers.
I didn't choose C because I think intestinal ulcer is an intestinal disease, is it not?