sahilbhatia21 wrote:
GMATNinja I am not able to understand the question type and how exactly am i supposed to weaken/approach it.
The little i have deciphered is :
ONLY by decreasing the no. of Young ppl --------> Decrease the Crime Rate( Merely increasing no. of police officers or expenditure on police service would have little effect )
Question says: The findings (FACTS ) above will WEAKEN which of the following ARGUMENT below? =
(I assumed now that the ans. choices would weaken the argument i framed above)Here,
if it were
X leads to/ causes/ will lead to Y, an Alternative cause wouldn't have worked.
ONLY X ---> Y kind of a question. Since the word ONLY is mentioned , we can have an alternative cause to weaken the effect.
I only find choice A as a potential alternative cause and a weakener for the above argument as it in someway (law enforcement program will be effective) can be linked with increasing police officers giving the desired result.
Could you kindly guide me on the logic I used and whether my approach is correct? I think you're on the right track. Just remember that (A) is not a
weakener itself. The question stem states, "The findings above can best serve as part of an argument against..."
So, looking at (A), we need to argue AGAINST the likelihood "that any law enforcement program will be effective in reducing the crime rate within a short time". In other words, we need to argue that it is UNLIKELY "that any law enforcement program will be effective in reducing the crime rate within a short time."
The statements in the passage would certainly support that view. We are told that 1) "merely increasing the number of police officers or expenditures on police services has little effect on reducing the crime rate" and that 2) "the only factor associated with a crime-rate drop is a decrease in the number of people in the community aged fourteen to thirty".
A law enforcement program would NOT decrease the number of 14-30 year-old people in the community. Also, increasing expenditures on police services (such as a law enforcement program), "has little effect on reducing the crime rate". Therefore, it is UNLIKELY "that any law enforcement program will be effective in reducing the crime rate within a short time."
That's why (A) is the correct choice. I hope that helps!