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- davsoko
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Q3 - A certain strain of bacteria was found
Can someone explain this one. I'm having a hard time grasping the answer. I had it down to B and E. I kind of see why E is correct, but I would like an explanation from an outside source.
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- nbayar1212
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Elle Woods
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Re: Q3 - I was between B and E on this question
Most supports = strengthen question.
The first thing to notice about the stimulus is that the conclusion is causal i.e. the stimulus is saying that the bacteria causes ulcers.
There are three common ways of strengthening a causal claim
1. No cause no effect e.g. in people who don't have the bacteria in their system, we find no cases of ulcers.
2. Same cause same effect e.g. other cases where people ingest the bacteria we invariably see ulcers develop
3. eliminate an alt cause
AC E is getting at the first of these three which is why its the correct AC. Remember we aren't trying to prove the conclusion to be true, rather we are just looking to strengthen it as much as possible by picking the best AC.
AC B is wrong because developing other health problems doesn't have anything to do with the claim that the bacteria causes ulcers i.e. whether or not other health problems emerge does not help us determine if ulcers are one of the possible effects of ingesting the bacteria. Also, notice the stimulus draws a causal conclusion about the cause of ulcers about ALL people based on a sample size of one person i.e. the researcher - which is definitely not enough evidence. To make a claim about the cause of ulcers in the general population we would need a much larger sample than just one researcher and so knowing that the researcher didn't develop any other health problems doesn't help us much here.
Hope this helps.
The first thing to notice about the stimulus is that the conclusion is causal i.e. the stimulus is saying that the bacteria causes ulcers.
There are three common ways of strengthening a causal claim
1. No cause no effect e.g. in people who don't have the bacteria in their system, we find no cases of ulcers.
2. Same cause same effect e.g. other cases where people ingest the bacteria we invariably see ulcers develop
3. eliminate an alt cause
AC E is getting at the first of these three which is why its the correct AC. Remember we aren't trying to prove the conclusion to be true, rather we are just looking to strengthen it as much as possible by picking the best AC.
AC B is wrong because developing other health problems doesn't have anything to do with the claim that the bacteria causes ulcers i.e. whether or not other health problems emerge does not help us determine if ulcers are one of the possible effects of ingesting the bacteria. Also, notice the stimulus draws a causal conclusion about the cause of ulcers about ALL people based on a sample size of one person i.e. the researcher - which is definitely not enough evidence. To make a claim about the cause of ulcers in the general population we would need a much larger sample than just one researcher and so knowing that the researcher didn't develop any other health problems doesn't help us much here.
Hope this helps.
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- ManhattanPrepLSAT1
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Atticus Finch
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Re: Q3 - I was between B and E on this question
Nice explanation nbayar1212! You've got it!
For future readers interested in some of the other incorrect answers:
(A) is irrelevant. Eliminates a possible alternative effect. So the bacteria doesn't cause kidney disease, so what? We want to know whether the bacteria causes ulcers.
(B) eliminates other possible effects more generally than answer choice (A), but suffers from the same issue.
(C) undermines the argument. We are looking to support the conclusion that the bacteria causes ulcers.
(D) is irrelevant. Bacteria can cause ulcers in experts too!
For future readers interested in some of the other incorrect answers:
(A) is irrelevant. Eliminates a possible alternative effect. So the bacteria doesn't cause kidney disease, so what? We want to know whether the bacteria causes ulcers.
(B) eliminates other possible effects more generally than answer choice (A), but suffers from the same issue.
(C) undermines the argument. We are looking to support the conclusion that the bacteria causes ulcers.
(D) is irrelevant. Bacteria can cause ulcers in experts too!
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