Q4 - Industry experts expect improvements

[cinderellarose14]

I know this is a silly question, however I don't seem to be getting this question. Also I find the correct answer B out of scope.

Thanks ahead!

[zhanga]

The discrepancy in question is that while you'd expect job safety training to lead to safer work environments, for manufacturers who improved job safety training in the 1980s, the number of job accidents had increased rather than decreased in the months following the training.

We're looking for an answer that will help explain why that it.

A) This just says there's evidence that job safety training doesn't increase job accidents, but it doesn't help explain the discrepancy found in the stimulus. Also it further confuses the problem because now we don't know if job safety training actually increases accidents or not.

B) This is the correct answer. This tells us that at the same time the safety training is taking place, the number of employees is also increasing. So it's possible that safety training had a positive effect on job safety but the increase number of accidents is due to the increased number of employees.

Think about it this way. Say a factory had 100 employees and out of those 100 people, 20 people got injured. Then they increased safety training when the size of the workforce increased to 1000 and because of the safety training the number injured is now only 50, which is an increase of number of people injured, but it's actually a decrease of the overall percentage of people injured on the job.

C) This doesn't explain why the number of accidents increase after the safety training. It only states that the number of accidents was on the rise before the training.

D) This just says that the information in the stimulus is correct but it doesn't explain anything in the stimulus.

E) Only complicates the problem because if significant safety measures were already in place then it doesn't explain why the number of accidents increased.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Question Type: Explain a Result

We need to explain why the improvements in job safety training, which are supposed to lead to improved job safety, led to a larger number of on-the-job accidents.

Correct Answer
Answer choice (B) explains that it’s a matter of numbers and percentages. While the percentage of accidents to workers (job safety) might have improved, we could still witness an increase in the number of on-the-job accidents if we have a larger workforce.

Incorrect Answers
(A) questions the survey’s accuracy. This might be tempting, but Explain questions ask to explain the conditions observed _ not to question them.
(C) has the time sequence out of order. We need to explain why on-the-job accidents went up after the job safety training went into effect.
(D) fails to answer the question "why?"
(E) might help explain a lack of improvement in job safety, but cannot explain an increase in on-the-job accidents after the job safety training was implemented.

[WaltGrace1983]

What is going on with (D)? This answer choice is saying that there is a REASON why # of accidents increased. Well we know that but what is it?! Is this technically a correct answer but not nearly as right as (B)? I chose B because it was much more precise and clear but I feel like you can accept (D) as a decent answer if there was nothing better.

[lsatzen]

I got this question incorrect during my PT. I was down to (C) and (B) and ultimately chose (C).

We are asked to resolve the apparent discrepancy within the passage, so while reading the stimulus we should look for two ideas that are seemingly in conflict with one another.

For this particular question, we are told that industry experts expect that improving job safety training leads to safer work environments. However, a manufacturer who improved their job safety training actually experienced an increase in the number of on-the-job accidents - in the months immediately following the improvements in training.

So, the seemingly odd state of affairs here is that improved job safety training did not lead to safer work environments.

At first, I was thinking that we would see an answer choice that expressed that the effects of the training usually take a while to come into fruition, but the correct answer takes a different avenue. The correct answer hones in on the fact that the number of accidents is not the same thing as safer work environments.

During the test, I did not like (B) because it didn't conform to my earlier anticipation and I didn't actually catch the difference between "safer work environments" and "increased number of accidents". But, now I clearly see why it is the correct answer.

(C) is incorrect because it has the timeline messed up. We need to reconcile the increased number of accidents after the improved training was implemented.

(D) is incorrect because it only addresses one side of the issue (a usual characteristic of incorrect answer choices for Paradox questions) and it really doesn't explain the conflict between the two events in the stimulus. If anything, it seems it would exacerbate the issue between the two events.