#20 - Must Be True

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=14542)

The correct answer choice is (A)

This question stem asks whether an imported programming airtime allotment study would be
relevant to various possible questions provided as answer choices.

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. The referenced study would allow one to
determine various nations’ access to imported cultural productions.

Answer choice (B): The study would not provide such information because it would only examine
the airtime schedule of the broadcasts in developing nations, not the specific viewing habits of the
residents therein.

Answer choice (C): A study of the airtime devoted to domestic versus imported programming would
not necessarily be conducive to an understanding of degree of influence.

Answer choice (D): A study of airtime devoted to imported programs would not offer insight into
relative audience sizes, so this answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (E): Answering this question is the first task of the proposed study in the author’s
passage, but the study discussed in the question stem would not assist with this inquiry at all, so this
answer choice should be eliminated.

[Sdaoud17]

OKay this question throw me off , because I could not find any evidence to support A is right , so I picked E. Can you please Explain the best Approach to this question and if i had A Question like this what should I do . Because It was the hardest question Honestly for me ?


Thank you

[Luke Haqq]

The question asks you to suppose that the amount of air time for imported television programming is provided for a number of developing countries. If we know this, it certainly tells us something about the access to imported cultural productions in those nations. And this is what answer choice A asks. It says, "How does the access to imported cultural productions differ among these nations?" If we know how much airtime each country gives to these productions, as the question asks us to suppose, we can answer this question.

[Sdaoud17]

got it , Thank you

[Mozart]

Hello,

I just wanted to ask if there are any lines from the passage that would support A)?
Or would it be a better strategy to think about the big picture ideas (instead of specific lines) of the passage when approaching this question?


Thank you so much for your time and help!

[Jeremy Press]

Hi Mozart,

That's a great question, and reveals a little something about the nature of this question. The consistent concern of the author in the passage is for empirical data that digs deeper into the level of influence that imported television programming has on a culture, for example: the size of audience attracted by the programming (line 20); the personal tastes of individual viewers (lines 23-25, plus paragraph 4); the culture's response to the programming (paragraph 3); the viewing habits of individuals, and the function of television programs in a culture (paragraph 2).

What the designers of the question want you to see is that the study in the question stem of question 20 (which only looks at amount of airtime allotted, but not at the effect of such time allotment on viewers, either as a culture or as individuals) is not helpful in getting at the level of influence of that programming. So, rather than finding passage support for answer choice A, we can safely eliminate answer choices B through E because they all deal with questions of influence (who's watching the programming, and what effect such programming has in the culture). Answer choice A is thus supported by negative inference.

Make sense?

Jeremy

[beeryslurs]

Hi.

I would definitely choose A if the question stem didn't say "given the information in the passage." A is just so obvious that you can arrive at it without any reference to the passage, and it does not seem to deal with the author's major concerns in the passage as much as the other answer choices do, so I eliminate it.

Is it possible that the "given the information in the passage" in the question stem is more like a trap?

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi beery,

We are still using the information in the passage to support answer choice (A). We eliminate answer choices (B), (C), (D), and (E) because they are inconsistent with the information given in the passage. Without the passage, we wouldn't have the information needed to answer this question. Even though we can't support to a specific line that gives us answer choice (A), we can point to those lines for the other answer choices.

Hope that helps!
Rachael

[Morgan2cats]

Hi beery,

We are still using the information in the passage to support answer choice (A). We eliminate answer choices (B), (C), (D), and (E) because they are inconsistent with the information given in the passage. Without the passage, we wouldn't have the information needed to answer this question. Even though we can't support to a specific line that gives us answer choice (A), we can point to those lines for the other answer choices.

Hope that helps!
Rachael

Hi PowerScore,

I have the same question as Beery. I don't understand how the passage helps eliminate answer choices (B) through (E). Could you please explain in detail why we eliminate answer choices (B), (C), (D), and (E) because they are inconsistent with the information given in the passage? Thanks!

[Jeff Wren]

Hi Morgan,

First, if you haven't done so already, I'd recommend reading the complete passage explanation linked at the top of this page and Jeremy's earlier post (Post #6).

Second, while the information in the passage helps to eliminate the wrong answers in this question, the information is not directly stated in the passage. Instead, you must use the information in the passage as well as the description of the study in the question and then draw inferences about what the information in that study would or would not help answer.

One of the key ideas in the passage is that not enough research has been done into the specifics of how viewers in developing countries interact and engage with the television programs imported from industrialized countries. The author writes, "An empirical approach not unlike that of anthropologists is needed if communication specialists are to understand the impact of external cultural influences on the lives of people in society" (my emphasis)(lines 37-40). Anthropologists generally study cultures firsthand by living among the people in those cultures and observing their day-to-day behavior directly.

Neither viewing habits, influence, nor audience size could be determined simply by looking at the amount of airtime allowed to imported shows. Since this is the only data that the study described in the question provides, Answers B, C, and D can be eliminated.

Near the end of the passage, the author discusses the model of cultural relationships and how it "will require engaging with the actual experiences of viewers" (lines 57-58). Since the study mentioned in this question does not engage with the actual experiences of viewers, it cannot help answer what model best describes the cultural relationship. This provides support for eliminating Answer E.

Since the amount of airtime allowed to imported shows directly corresponds to the amount of access to imported cultural productions, comparisons of these amounts would help answer how access to imported cultural productions differs among these nations, as described in Answer A.

While I agree that this question could probably be answered just by using some commonsense assumptions regarding what kind of information such a study would or would not provide, the information in the passage does help answer the question.