- PowerScore Staff
- Posts: 8916
- Joined: Feb 02, 2011
- Fri May 26, 2017 5:51 pm
#35412
Complete Question Explanation
Resolve the Paradox. The correct answer choice is (D)
Resolve the Paradox questions, like some Must Be True questions, consist primarily of premise
statements. As such, the statements should be accepted as true and the resolution will seldom reject
either premise. Instead, the correct answer will tend to establish how both premises could be taken as
true and often explain how the situation arose.
In this case, the paradox is that students expressed a general preference for candidates with
experience and then choose a candidate with no experience. Because both preferences were
expressed by a majority of students, at least some students must hold both views simultaneously. A
relatively obvious way to resolve this paradox is to suggest that all of the experienced candidates had
other significant drawbacks or that the inexperienced candidate was otherwise obviously superior.
Both of these resolutions—as well as the correct answer below—demonstrate how a student or set of
students could logically hold both preferences at once.
Answer choice (A): If several experienced candidates were indistinguishable from one another,
students who wanted an experienced candidate could have been expected to split their votes among
these candidates. However, this would not explain why the majority of students choose a candidate
with no experience.
Answer choice (B): As with answer choice (A), this answer provides no explanation for the majority
of students selecting a candidate who had never served as a university president. If (B) is true,
students would have had several choices that met their expressed preference.
Answer choice (C): By itself, this does not resolve the dilemma. Even if there were fewer candidates
listed in the poll than were being considered, students would still be expected to choose according to
their expressed preference. Limited selection size would account for the discrepancy only if none of
the candidates listed in the poll had experience as a university president.
Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. We can reasonably expect the students’
preferences in this poll to be consistent to the extent that they are able to make choices according to
those preferences. However, if the students were not told whether the candidates had been university
presidents, then they do not have enough information to act on their preferences.
This is reminiscent of a game show where a contestant must choose blindly between door number 1
and door number 2. A contestant might prefer to win a new car and instead choose a bucket of old
motor oil, without violating their expressed preference.
Answer choice (E): (E) may well be true, but it does not preclude the possibility that someone
can also be well suited to a position with extensive experience and therefore does not explain why
students would express a preference for experience and apparently contradict that preference.
Resolve the Paradox. The correct answer choice is (D)
Resolve the Paradox questions, like some Must Be True questions, consist primarily of premise
statements. As such, the statements should be accepted as true and the resolution will seldom reject
either premise. Instead, the correct answer will tend to establish how both premises could be taken as
true and often explain how the situation arose.
In this case, the paradox is that students expressed a general preference for candidates with
experience and then choose a candidate with no experience. Because both preferences were
expressed by a majority of students, at least some students must hold both views simultaneously. A
relatively obvious way to resolve this paradox is to suggest that all of the experienced candidates had
other significant drawbacks or that the inexperienced candidate was otherwise obviously superior.
Both of these resolutions—as well as the correct answer below—demonstrate how a student or set of
students could logically hold both preferences at once.
Answer choice (A): If several experienced candidates were indistinguishable from one another,
students who wanted an experienced candidate could have been expected to split their votes among
these candidates. However, this would not explain why the majority of students choose a candidate
with no experience.
Answer choice (B): As with answer choice (A), this answer provides no explanation for the majority
of students selecting a candidate who had never served as a university president. If (B) is true,
students would have had several choices that met their expressed preference.
Answer choice (C): By itself, this does not resolve the dilemma. Even if there were fewer candidates
listed in the poll than were being considered, students would still be expected to choose according to
their expressed preference. Limited selection size would account for the discrepancy only if none of
the candidates listed in the poll had experience as a university president.
Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. We can reasonably expect the students’
preferences in this poll to be consistent to the extent that they are able to make choices according to
those preferences. However, if the students were not told whether the candidates had been university
presidents, then they do not have enough information to act on their preferences.
This is reminiscent of a game show where a contestant must choose blindly between door number 1
and door number 2. A contestant might prefer to win a new car and instead choose a bucket of old
motor oil, without violating their expressed preference.
Answer choice (E): (E) may well be true, but it does not preclude the possibility that someone
can also be well suited to a position with extensive experience and therefore does not explain why
students would express a preference for experience and apparently contradict that preference.