LSAT 4 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q3

LR Question 3 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Scientific research that involves international collaboration…

QUESTION TYPE: Necessary Assumption

CONCLUSION: The research projects conducted by international teams are of greater importance than those conducted by single researchers.

REASONING: Papers written by international teams receive more than twice the number of citations as papers written by individual researchers.

ANALYSIS: Are citations a measure of the importance of the research? This issue comes up reasonably frequently on the LSAT. Citations don’t necessarily capture the full importance of a research paper.

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1. This would actually show that international projects do even better, because single researchers who are prolific writers may inflate their citations. It is a helpful assumption for the argument but not a necessary assumption.
2. This would be interesting but it is not necessary. We can tell which publications are international by looking at the authors.
3. CORRECT. If this isn’t true then there is no evidence for the conclusion.
4. The stimulus does not discuss collaborative efforts within a single country. This is irrelevant.
5. This could explain why they have more important research but it isn’t a necessary assumption.

Recap: The question begins with “Scientific research that involves international collaboration”. It is a Necessary Assumption question. Learn how to master LSAT Necessary questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.