LSAT 143 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q24

LR Question 24 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Researcher: People who participate in opinion surveys…

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: Well constructed surveys will avoid the problem of people trying to please surveyors.

REASONING: Well constructed surveys will not show which answer the surveyor wants to hear.

ANALYSIS: This question is subtle. It plays on the difference between knowledge and belief.

The stimulus has shown that it’s impossible to know what answer is expected on a well-constructed survey. I.e. You can’t have affirmative, correct knowledge of surveyors’ expectations.

But that doesn’t mean people won’t be able to form false beliefs about a survey’s expectations. And those beliefs could bias answers.

___________

1. The argument isn’t talking about all types of flaws. It’s only talking about flaws that result from people trying to meet surveyors’ expectations.
2. This would strengthen the argument. It shows it’s possible for some people to avoid bias in their answers, no matter how surveys are constructed.
3. It doesn’t matter if opinion surveyors have expectations. It only matters if respondents think surveyors have expectations.
4. This answer talks about people who know what answer is expected. Not what answer they believe is expected.
   If a well constructed survey reveals no information then you can’t know what’s expected. So this answer is irrelevant to the argument.
5. CORRECT. The stimulus made a convincing argument that the surveys wouldn’t let you guess what information was expected.
   But that doesn’t mean people would realize they can’t know. People might falsely believe they knew what was expected. Even if they are wrong about this, it could influence their answers.