LR Question 24 Explanation
QUESTION TEXT: Columnist: George Orwell’s book 1984 has exercised…
QUESTION TYPE: Information to Evaluate the Argument
CONCLUSION: Orwell’s book 1984 has influenced many of this newspaper’s readers.
REASONING: 1,000 people surveyed said that Orwell’s book 1984 was the book chosen second most often, after the bible.
ANALYSIS: Being chosen second-most often doesn’t necessarily mean much. It could be that 980 readers chose the bible, and only 20 chose 1984. That doesn’t amount to much.
(The people surveyed only picked one book. They didn’t choose “bible first, 1984 second”. Instead, they each chose one book, and 1984 was selected second most often.)
___________
- This doesn’t matter. It only matters how many of those surveyed were influenced by 1984.
- CORRECT. If only ten people chose 1984 (and 980 chose the bible, and 10 chose other books) then we have no evidence that many readers were influenced by 1984.
- The conclusion is only about the readers of the newspaper, so this doesn’t matter. The sample of 1,000 was big enough to get a sense of the readership’s opinions.
- This doesn’t matter. The conclusion was only about 1984.
- It doesn’t matter if the books were read. It only matters if the books influenced their lives. We’re all influenced by the Iliad, even if we haven’t read it.
More Resources for Argument Evaluation Questions
- Intro Course lesson: This intro course lesson covers Argument Evaluation questions.
- Mastery Seminar lesson: This LR Mastery seminar lesson covers argument evaluation questions.
My thought process is: But even if only ten people chose 1984, that doesn’t necessarily impact the argument. It’s not like he said it influenced MOST readers, it just says it influences many. Who says 10 isn’t many? How much exactly is many on the LSAT.
Appreciate all the help btw!
Well, suppose you defined many as “ten or more”. Then, if you found out that only 9 people chose books other than the bible, that would be relevant. You have to look at both things in conjunction, not in isolation. Having a definition of many + a number lets you reason about things. Hope that helps!
I see how B could be correct, but I’m having a hard time understanding why C isn’t equally valid.
A key component of the columnist’s argument states “1984 has exercised much influence on a GREAT NUMBER of this newspaper’s readers.” (emphasis added)
Question C asks “How many people read the columnist’s newspaper?”
If the answer that question is, for example, 1,000,000 readers, doesn’t the relatively small size of the survey (1,000 people) invalidate the columnist’s claim that the book influenced a “great number” of readers?
Likewise, if the answer to C is 1,500 readers, then that seems to strengthen the survey’s results.
Nowhere is it stated that survey participants were selected from a group that accurately represents the readership at large. Are we supposed to just assume that? Otherwise I can’t see how answer C can be wrong.
Hope you can provide some clarity–love your site!
1,000 is enough for a representative sample, as long as the sample is chosen randomly. Most political polls are done with ~1,000 people, and they’re reasonably accurate. The LSAT expects you to know the basics of statistical sampling, though they never tell you this explicitly.
Once you get over 1,000 people surveyed it almost doesn’t matter how many people read the newspaper, if the answer is less than “the entire population of the USA”.
Note: This is an old comment but I wanted to clarify the point.