Critical Reasoning

Studies have shown that elderly people who practice a religion are much more likely to die immediately after an
important religious holiday period than immediately before one. Researchers have concluded that the will to live
can prolong life, at least for short periods of time.
Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the researchers’ conclusion?
(A) Elderly people who practice a religion are less likely to die immediately before or during an important
religious holiday than at any other time of the year.
(B) Elderly people who practice a religion appear to experience less anxiety at the prospect of dying than do
other people.
(C) Some elderly people who do practice a religion live much longer than most elderly people who do not.
(D) Most elderly people who participate in religious holidays have different reasons for participating than young
people do.
(E) Many religions have important holidays in the spring and fall, seasons with the lowest death rates for elderly
people.


I wonder wjy E is not the answer since it is the fact that can support the conclusion that will to live can prolong life. Many thanks

IMO B, What is OA.
B is tangential though.

IMO A

IMO A. Elderly ppl who practice a religion are more likely to die before or during the religious holiday than any other time.

B -weakens

C also weakens

D - OOS

E actually does not say anything about ppl who practice religion or now.

IMO - A

IMO A.
In B, the word "anxiety" is bit OOS

imhimanshu wrote:IMO A.
In B, the word "anxiety" is bit OOS

Another vote for A.
I also agree that Anxiety is out of scope, since the question mention "the will to live".

Must be A.
E is out of scope since it gives too many information not mentioned in the main question. I realised so far that with CR questions, you want an asnwer that has almost the same amout of data as the main question. Assuming anything more then what is in the question makes it irrelevant or out of scope.

yyc881123 wrote:Studies have shown that elderly people who practice a religion are much more likely to die immediately after an
important religious holiday period than immediately before one. Researchers have concluded that the will to live
can prolong life, at least for short periods of time.
Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the researchers� conclusion?
(A) Elderly people who practice a religion are less likely to die immediately before or during an important religious holiday than at any other time of the year.
(B) Elderly people who practice a religion appear to experience less anxiety at the prospect of dying than do other people.
(C) Some elderly people who do practice a religion live much longer than most elderly people who do not.
(D) Most elderly people who participate in religious holidays have different reasons for participating than young people do.
(E) Many religions have important holidays in the spring and fall, seasons with the lowest death rates for elderly people.

Can you explain why IS E WRONG?

A should be the one...E is wrong because there may be a case that religious elderly people are far less than non religious older people.

So even if these elder religious people have low death prospect in religious holidays,,,we can not generalize this for the whole elderly population ( religious + non religious.) And E is doing this only.

Additionally, E introduces a confounding variable: seasonal death rates. Perhaps death rates are lower in the spring and fall because of factors other than religious holidays.

Please help me understand why B or C is wrong..