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- Sat Aug 29, 2015 11:00 pm
#22678
Question #24: Flaw. The correct answer choice is (E).
The researcher begins by outlining a type of response bias that can negatively affect the reliability of opinion surveys: people often try to please the surveyor by giving answers they believe the surveyor expects to hear. Well-constructed surveys, however, provide no indication as to what those answers might be. So, the argument goes, well-constructed surveys will eliminate the aforementioned response bias (also known as “social desirability bias”).
At first glance, this is a plausible argument. If the questions are worded in such a way as to provide no indication of what the surveyors expect to hear, then their beliefs would have no way of influencing the responders. The responders simply wouldn’t know how they are expected to respond. However, lack of real knowledge does not preclude the possibility of adhering to a false belief. Indeed, the respondents may still hold mistaken beliefs about what the surveyors expect to hear, in which case their answers can still be influenced by their desire to please the surveyors. This is a subtle flaw, which—if prephrased correctly—would immediately reveal answer choice (E) to be correct.
If you had no idea what the flaw in this argument was, a reasonable approach would be to attack this question like you would a Weaken question. If you can understand how to weaken the argument, then fundamentally you have some grasp of the flaw in it, and you can use that information to help you determine the correct answer choice. This alternative approach is facilitated by the wording of the question stem: “the reasoning in the researcher’s argument is questionable in that the argument overlooks the possibility that...”. Remember—only possibilities that could potentially weaken the argument are possibilities that the author should not have overlooked, and whose omission amounts to a logical flaw! Thus, as you examine each answer choice, ask yourself if the possibility described in it would weaken the argument.
Answer choice (A): This is an exceptionally attractive, but ultimately incorrect, answer choice. What if the well-constructed surveys proposed in the stimulus are flawed in some other way, having nothing to do with the response bias described in the stimulus? Well, the author does not argue that his proposal will make the surveys absolutely flawless—the objective, as specified in the conclusion, is the elimination of response bias only. The potential presence of other survey biases or flaws has no bearing on the issue at hand.
Answer choice (B): This answer choice only concerns responders who hold strong opinions on the issues they are being asked about—a sample too limited to to have any statistical significance. Furthermore, if such people are unlikely to be influenced by other people’s expectations, then the response bias would be even less of an issue. If anything, this would strengthen the conclusion of the argument.
Answer choice (C): Whether the opinion surveyors have any real expectations regarding the answers of people who respond to surveys is irrelevant. That’s the whole point: it is the responders’ belief that such expectations exist that biases their answers, regardless of whether their belief is well-founded.
Answer choice (D): This answer choice describes an entirely different response bias: it concerns people who know what they are expect to answer, and purposefully try to thwart the surveyor’s expectations. The well-constructed surveys proposed by the researcher can easily avoid this problem, because they would give no indication of the expected answer.
Answer Choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. Just because people cannot know what the expected answer is does not mean that they cannot form false beliefs about what it might be. False beliefs can influence our responses just as much as true beliefs can.
The researcher begins by outlining a type of response bias that can negatively affect the reliability of opinion surveys: people often try to please the surveyor by giving answers they believe the surveyor expects to hear. Well-constructed surveys, however, provide no indication as to what those answers might be. So, the argument goes, well-constructed surveys will eliminate the aforementioned response bias (also known as “social desirability bias”).
At first glance, this is a plausible argument. If the questions are worded in such a way as to provide no indication of what the surveyors expect to hear, then their beliefs would have no way of influencing the responders. The responders simply wouldn’t know how they are expected to respond. However, lack of real knowledge does not preclude the possibility of adhering to a false belief. Indeed, the respondents may still hold mistaken beliefs about what the surveyors expect to hear, in which case their answers can still be influenced by their desire to please the surveyors. This is a subtle flaw, which—if prephrased correctly—would immediately reveal answer choice (E) to be correct.
If you had no idea what the flaw in this argument was, a reasonable approach would be to attack this question like you would a Weaken question. If you can understand how to weaken the argument, then fundamentally you have some grasp of the flaw in it, and you can use that information to help you determine the correct answer choice. This alternative approach is facilitated by the wording of the question stem: “the reasoning in the researcher’s argument is questionable in that the argument overlooks the possibility that...”. Remember—only possibilities that could potentially weaken the argument are possibilities that the author should not have overlooked, and whose omission amounts to a logical flaw! Thus, as you examine each answer choice, ask yourself if the possibility described in it would weaken the argument.
Answer choice (A): This is an exceptionally attractive, but ultimately incorrect, answer choice. What if the well-constructed surveys proposed in the stimulus are flawed in some other way, having nothing to do with the response bias described in the stimulus? Well, the author does not argue that his proposal will make the surveys absolutely flawless—the objective, as specified in the conclusion, is the elimination of response bias only. The potential presence of other survey biases or flaws has no bearing on the issue at hand.
Answer choice (B): This answer choice only concerns responders who hold strong opinions on the issues they are being asked about—a sample too limited to to have any statistical significance. Furthermore, if such people are unlikely to be influenced by other people’s expectations, then the response bias would be even less of an issue. If anything, this would strengthen the conclusion of the argument.
Answer choice (C): Whether the opinion surveyors have any real expectations regarding the answers of people who respond to surveys is irrelevant. That’s the whole point: it is the responders’ belief that such expectations exist that biases their answers, regardless of whether their belief is well-founded.
Answer choice (D): This answer choice describes an entirely different response bias: it concerns people who know what they are expect to answer, and purposefully try to thwart the surveyor’s expectations. The well-constructed surveys proposed by the researcher can easily avoid this problem, because they would give no indication of the expected answer.
Answer Choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. Just because people cannot know what the expected answer is does not mean that they cannot form false beliefs about what it might be. False beliefs can influence our responses just as much as true beliefs can.
Participants try to meet surveyors' expectations