LSAT 151 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q2

LR Question 2 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: A company decided to scan all of its salespersons’…

QUESTION TYPE: Paradox

PARADOX: The digitization project was a failure. Salesmen preferred to keep their paper files, and refused to turn them over for digitization.

ANALYSIS: We would expect salespeople to welcome the database, as it would help them avoid “lugging” their paper around the country.

But salespeople didn’t use the system, and they didn’t hand in their papers. So, we need to find some downside to the system that explains the salespeople’s reluctance. Why didn’t they use it, or why didn’t they hand over their papers?

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1. “Some” is not a very useful word in many cases. It can be as low as “one”. You should read “some” at its weakest, and ask yourself if it’s significant. Here, it really doesn’t matter if “one person gave huge files, and another gave small ones”.
2. This makes the situation more confusing. It removes the possible explanation that salespeople were unfamiliar with portable computers. If salespeople already had computers, why wouldn’t they want to use them?
3. CORRECT. This gives a reason for salespeople to hesitate, so it helps explain the situation. Even though the database would help salespeople do their job better, the salespeople nonetheless wanted to protect their prospects’ privacy.
4. This makes the situation more confusing. Salespeople found the system easy to use, and were offered training. So why didn’t they want to use it?
    
   You might have picked this thinking maybe the salespeople didn’t want to waste their time with training and so they weren’t trained. But, they were required to attend, so they did go. And sulkiness over required training wouldn’t explain why salespeople would avoid turning in paper.
5. This would explain the cost of the database. But the stimulus didn’t focus on cost. Instead, it said that the database lacked data: salespeople refused to turn over their papers.