An anthropologist studying the social function of human skin has state

Question

An anthropologist studying the social function of human skin has stated that tattoos are an ancient form of body art. Tattoos, she argues, function as a mode of self-identification: the placement and design of tattooed images communicate ideas of central importance to those who bear them. She hypothesizes that tattooing has surged in popularity in Western cultures over the last 10-15 years because of a desire to express individuality despite an increase in the mass production of other forms of personal decoration, such as clothing and jewelry.
 
Which of the following would be most useful to determine in evaluating the researcher’s hypothesis?

(A) Whether the most popular tattoo designs are mass-produced

(B) Whether there has been in increase in the past 10-15 years in the number of people who wish to express individuality in their physical appearance, but feel that they cannot do so by other means

(C) Whether the ancient civilizations that developed tattoos used them to express individuality

(D) Whether people in Western cultures identify a desire to express individuality

(E) Whether attitudes toward mass-produced clothing and jewelry have changed in Western cultures over the last 10-15 years

Verbal Question of The Day: Day 17: Critical Reasoning 
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ChrisLele · Accepted Answer

The question is looking for the answer that is MOST LIKELY to provide evidence. While some evidence could be marshaled for (A), the case would is nowhere nearly strong as the case for (B).

Taking a closer look, the study in (A) surveys people in general, not just those who have gotten tattoos. By surveying this group we will definitely gain insight into attitudes towards mass-produced clothing. However, will we know what those with tattoos think about mass-produced? Maybe, as those surveyed are bound to have tattoos, but unless we identify which ones, we are not really going to learn too much about tattoo-ed people’s attitudes toward clothing.

In (B) we are directly surveying those with tattoos. And we are asking them why they got tattoos. The theory, from the prompt, is that they got tattoos because they wanted to define themselves instead of being defined by mass-produced clothing and jewelry. (B) allows us to ask them if this was the case.

Again, with (A) we are asking everybody – those with and without tattoos (which we won’t be able to distinguish between – what they think about mass-produced clothing. Who knows if the topic of tattoos will even come up?

Thus the answer is clearly (B)

GMATNinja · Answer

Let's start by identifying the researcher's hypothesis: "tattooing has surged in popularity in Western cultures over the last 10-15 years because of a desire to express individuality despite an increase in the mass production of other forms of personal decoration, such as clothing and jewelry." This hypothesis implies that people in Western cultures have found expressing their individuality with those other forms of personal decoration to be less effective as mass production of those decorations has increased.

Since, according to the author, tattoos function as a mode of self-identification and can be used to communicate ideas of central importance to those who bear them, we can infer that tattoos can also be used to express individuality. If an increase in the mass production of those other decorations, such as clothing and jewelry, has decreased people's ability to express their individuality with those items, perhaps those people have sought other means of expressing their individuality (i.e. using tattoos).

Now that we understand the author's argument, which of the following would be most useful to determine in evaluating the researcher’s hypothesis?

At first glance, this option is tempting. If clothing and jewelry become less effective means of expressing individuality the more they are mass-produced, maybe the same is true of tattoos? However, just because the  most popular  tattoo designs are mass produced does not mean that most tattoo designs are mass produced or that mass production of tattoo designs has increased or decreased over the last 10-15 years. Also, if the placement (and not just the design) of tattooed images affects the ideas communicated by those tattoos, then people can still use mass produced tattoo designs to express their individuality. Thus, choice (A) does not help us evaluate the author's hypothesis.

The author's argument assumes that the mass production of decorations such as clothing and jewelry has made it more difficult for people to express their individuality with those items. But if those people still feel that they can express their individuality with mass produced decorations or if those people largely do not care to express their individuality, then they would have no reason to use tattoos. We can eliminate those possibilities if we know that there has been an increase in the past 10-15 years in the number of people who wish to express individuality in their physical appearance, but feel that they cannot do so by other means. Choice (B) does help us evaluate the author's hypothesis.

It doesn't matter whether people of ancient civilizations used tattoos to express individuality. We only care whether people in Western cultures over the last 10-15 years have used tattoos to express individuality. Thus, choice (C) can be eliminated.

(D) is tempting, but it isn't nearly as strong as (B). First, remember that we're looking for the answer that would be the MOST useful in evaluating the researcher's hypothesis that "tattooing has surged in popularity in Western cultures over the last 10-15 years because of a desire to express individuality..." But (D) does nothing to help explain why there has been a surge in popularity; (D) gives us no indication that anything related to tattooing has changed over time. (B), on the other hand, directly addresses how the desire to express individuality might have led to the the surge in popularity over the last 10-15 years. (D) isn't nearly as useful as (B), and can be eliminated.

Determining this information does NOT tell us whether the increase in mass production of clothing and jewelry has made it more difficult for people to express their individuality with those items nor does it tell us whether people in Western cultures have increasingly used tattoos to express their individuality over the last 10-15 years. This information does not help us evaluate the author's argument, so choice (E) can be eliminated.

Choice (B) is the best answer.

pqhai · Answer

Before analyzing the question, let read the question stem carefully: 
 Which of the following research studies, if completed, would be most likely to provide evidence  DIRECTLY  relating to the anthropologist’s hypothesis? 
 Any indirect related research is wrong.

The anthropologist hypothesizes:

Tattooing in Western cultures over the last 10-15 years  is due to desire to express individuality  in an environment in which other personal decorations, including clothing and jewelry, are mass-produced

Assumptions:

(1) Over 10-15 years,  express individuality  is the main reason  for tattooing . ==> If it is NOT the main reason, ==> the hypothesis fails.
(2) Over 10-15 years,  personal decorations have  NOT expressed  individuality  ==> If clothing and jewelry that are mass-produced do express individuality ==> The hypothesis fails

Analyze each answer:

A. A study examining  the attitudes  in several Western cultures toward mass-produced clothing and jewelry. 
 Wrong.  Out of scope. We do not talk about the "attitude to ward mass-produced" here.

B. A study that systematically interviews people with   tattoos less than 15 years old   to discover their reasons for tattooing. 
  Correct.   Please read carefully. It says exactly the assumption (1) above.  We just talk about the reasoning for tattooing over 10-15 years.

C. A study  surveying the work of other anthropologists  on tattooing as a mode of self-identification. 
 Wrong.  Clearly of of scope.

D. A study of the most common designs for tattoos over the last 10-15 years that could  determine correlations between popular images and culture . 
 Wrong.  Clearly of of scope.
 
E. A study comparing  ancient and modern  designs for tattoos that could  reveal the way shifts in images reflect shifts in culture .
 Wrong.  Clearly of of scope.

Hope it helps

madzstar · Answer

GREAT ANSWER!!! Very detailed

Despite  the answer being correct I have found that this passage also takes into assumption that a method of  qualitative research  would suffice to obtain accurate results. One could argue that a quantitative or mixed approach form of research over  10-15 years  would actually provide more accurate results.

In the world of academics you would find this too be very true. Look at you lecturers and you will notice a huge divide between those who would say qualitative is a better form of research and other qualitative and others who would say mixed method research is indeed superior.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Would you agree with this?

pqhai · Answer

Madzstar. Thanks so much for your kind comment. I appreciate. I absolutely agree. We don't need two stones for 1 bird.

One shot is enough. Regards.

Lucy Phuong · Answer

IMHO the correct answer is (B).

The following is my approach:

Researcher’s hypothesis: The surge in tattooing popularity in Western cultures over the last 10-15 years is BECAUSE OF a desire to express individuality despite an increase in the mass production of other forms of personal decoration, such as clothing and jewelry. 
In another word, the researcher hypothesizes that in order to express individuality, Western people prefer tattoo to other means of personal decoration. And she also states that there is a surge in tattoo popularity, so there must be an assumption pointing out a factor that helps increase tattoo demand. For example: the increase in number of people who choose tattoo over other means to demonstrate personality.
Now we look for an answer choice that consider 2 sides of this assumption.

(A) Whether the most popular tattoo designs are mass-produced  
=> Wrong. The logic we mention above is that rising usage of tattoo should come from rising number of users (who prefer tattoo), not from whether the supply/production is large or not. 
  (B) Whether there has been in increase in the past 10-15 years in the number of people who wish to express individuality in their physical appearance, but feel that they cannot do so by other means  
=> Yes, this option is right, because it points out the cause of surging number of tattoo over the last 10-15 years.
  (C) Whether the ancient civilizations that developed tattoos used them to express individuality  
=> Wrong. At first, "ancient civilizations" is out of scope, we are discussing "the last 10-15 years". Secondly, even if there is a change in purpose of tattoo (ancient people use tattoo not for individuality purpose), then it still may not lead to surge in tattoo popularity when the number of people wishing to express individuality declines.
  (D) Whether people in Western cultures identify a desire to express individuality  
=> Wrong. This only explains why people choose tattoo, but cannot tell why its usage increases during the mentioned period
  (E) Whether attitudes toward mass-produced clothing and jewelry have changed in Western cultures over the last 10-15 years.   
=> Wrong. We can apply the same reasoning as in option (C) to eliminate (E). If the attitudes haven't changed, then we absolutely expect that there will not be a rise in usage of tattoo. How about a shift in attitude? Even if so, then increasing tattoo popularity is still not necessarily the case, especially when the total number of individuality-favoring people declines.

That is my opinion. Hope to receive your comment on it. Thank you.

spetznaz · Answer

This is a close call between B and D. I fell for D , but upon closer examination realized that it must be B. My take :

Premise - "An anthropologist studying the social function of human skin has stated that tattoos are an ancient form of body art. Tattoos, she argues, function as a mode of self-identification: the placement and design of tattooed images communicate ideas of central importance to those who bear them." In other words tattoos are an ancient phenomenon and they were used by people to communicate an idea of central importance to those around them.

Conclusion - "Tattooing has surged in popularity in Western cultures over the last 10-15 years because of a desire to express individuality despite an increase in the mass production of other forms of personal decoration, such as clothing and jewelry." In other words, tattooing has surged in western cultures over the past 10-15 years because of a desire to express individuality despite other forms of personal decoration such as clothing and decoration.

Pre-think - This is an evaluate type question. What is the assumption here ? There has been an increase in the number of people in the western world who desire to express their individuality (particularly in the past 10-15 years). (Note : There is a cause - effect reasoning in the conclusion and not in the premise here). For evaluate ask - Is there an increase in the number of people who wish to express their individuality ? Use variance test to get a yes/no answer.

POE -

a) Irrelevant. Not on the lines of Pre-thinking step. 
b) Hold
c) We are concerned about modern and not ancient world. Out
d) Note the subtle shift in vocabulary ... the option says "identify a desire", whereas we need a surge in the number of people who wish to express individuality. Hence out
e) Does it matter if the attitudes towards clothing and jewelry changed ? We are concerned about surge in the number of people who wish to express individuality. Hence out.

This was a close one between B and D. But B wins !

Hence answer B

pkm9995 · Answer

GMATNinja I HAVE A QUESTION. In option (B

Quote:

) Whether there has been in increase in the past 10-15 years in the number of people who wish to express individuality in their physical appearance, but feel that they cannot do so by other means

.So who are these total number of people? People including those outside western world.There is noting mentioned in the argument regarding those people outside the western world .While tattooing flourished in the western world it could have declined there or flourished in the other world.So the total number can still not answer regarding the hypothesis. Please elaborate your reasoning regarding this point,

GMATNinjaTwo · Answer

I agree that it would be MORE useful to know whether the number of WESTERNERS wishing to express individuality has increased in the past 10-15 years, but remember that we are looking for the MOST useful answer choice. Even though choice (B) doesn't allow us to fully CONFIRM the hypothesis, it would still be useful. More importantly, we can eliminate the other answer choices.

Although choice (B) does not allow us to confirm the hypothesis, it is the BEST answer choice.

aquaria · Answer

Wildhorn makes an interesting point. The cardinal rule for CR is to stay within the confines of the question. How rigid then are we supposed to be in our interpretation of the answers? The GMAT seems to reward following the rules, but the questions (well this one in particular) do not lend themselves to a strict reading of the answer choices. Since the passage mentions Western culture as a main thread if you will to the anthropologist’s assumptions, are we supposed to assume right away that all the answer choices pertain to Western culture...even if choices like B) and E) do not mention this? I can see B) as the right answer, but to arrive at that conclusion one must assume that we are referring strictly to Western attitudes towards tattoos. Without that assertion, B) is open-ended and can refer to other culture’s attitudes towards tattoos. That being said, one other thing the GMAT is also notorious for is giving the “best” answers...not necessarily the perfect ones. And I suppose you can argue that yes, in a business setting sometimes you have to settle for the “best” answer because conditions are never perfect. I just think it’s interesting that in the Quant REASONING section (PS/DS), there is no room for ambiguity...and yet in the Verbal Reasoning section, we are expected to stay objective even when the topics at hand are interently subjective by their very nature. Even in SC, which is probably the most straightforward of the three Verbal topics, I’ve seen my fair share of questions where even the “best” answer is a little dubious. Whether it’s because of misplaced words, a lack of concision, or awkwardly worded formal language that doesn’t really reflect the kind of vernacular being used out there. We are expected to use logic and think in a very specific way. And by specific I mean whatever the question maker felt was the correct answer. At that point it just feels disingenuous, kind of like we’re supposed to be mind readers. Man, I’m not exactly sure what facets of the business world the GMAT is trying to emulate lol. Maybe I’m just the GMATCLUB equivalent of Homer’s father from the Simpsons who shakes his fist angrily at the sky and feels the test (while valuable) perpetuates a lot of ideals about the business world that are outdated. I’d be interesting to hear what others think though, and apologies if this seemed like a bit of a rant

GMATNinja · Answer

First, you deserve a cookie for the wildly appropriate Simpsons reference.

So I could happily join you in ranting and raving about the irrelevance of the GMAT! After half of a PhD in psychometrics (the statistical science underneath standardized testing) and 17+ years of GMAT tutoring, I have all sorts of criticisms about the test. I think it's horribly abused by business schools, and it really doesn't mean what most people think it means. I spend plenty of time shaking my fist at the GMAT sky, too . It's one of my favorite pastimes. But this particular thread probably isn't the right target. Why? It's built around a non-official question. A lot of you have seen this before, but the GMAT spends somewhere between $1500 and $3000 developing every official question, and even the geniuses

who write the GMAT Club Tests can't quite compete with that. We could argue that the question in this thread is far from perfect, but that's not the GMAT's fault. So yes, there are probably good reasons to pummel the GMAT. This question just isn't one of them!

Alphaneus · Answer

B addresses people in general while the question stem is talking partricularly of western culture that way option D , inspite of not being perfect , at least addresses western people and their desire to express their individuality. isnt D a better choice than B?

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Hi Sarthak

The key aspect of the hypothesis is not about Western people, but about tattoos being a preferred mode of expressing individuality ( despite an increase  in the mass production of other forms of personal decoration, such as clothing and jewelry). It is possible that tattoos are a preferred mode for this purpose only in Western cultures, but the hypothesis talks about a desire to express individuality among all people as well. It is not clear whether the hypothesis only talks about Western culture, and hence it would be wrong to focus on this portion. We need to focus on the thrust of the hypothesis, which is as I stated earlier.

Option (D) does not say anything about tattoos being  preferred  over other options to express individuality (such as clothing, jewelry etc.). This point is effectively addressed in option (B) and hence is the correct answer.

Hope this helps.

aletheia225 · Answer

(B) has an overlooked flaw, but it's still clearly the best answer. The helpfulness of (B) could be limited by the fact that the surge is accounted for by people who want to express individuality, but who feel that tattoos are the best, rather than the only, means by which to express individuality. In other words, the answer to the question posed by (B) could be 'zero', but that wouldn't necessarily detonate the hypothesis. One way to avoid this flaw would be to say that 'other' forms of personal decoration encompasses ALL forms of personal decoration besides tattoos.

gloomybison · Answer

Hi  GMATNinja

ı do have a few question regarding your explanation

First of all, how did you come to your assumption that people find "personal decoration to be less effective"? Although we are given that despite a mass increase in other decoration forms, tattooing has surged because of a desire to self express. But we don't know whether this surge is due to people's finding other means less effective, maybe they are as effective as tattooing but expensive or not fun etc...

Secondly, Doesn't choice D and E have the same effect as B?

Although D doesn't explain the surge in popularity, doesn't it eliminate an alternative explanation as does B?
Because if answer to D is YES than it explains why this surge happened but if it is a NO than we get other possible explanation

and for E

If the attitude changed than yes it explains, in line with your assumption, why tattooing surged. Because people no longer see it as an effective tool of expressing themselves as tattooing. But if it is no then we can't really tell if it surged because of mass-increase of other decoration methods

Thank you for your answer:)

GMATNinja · Answer

When the passage says that there is "a desire to express individuality  despite  an increase in the mass production of other forms of personal decorations," the word "despite" indicates that we have two things that are opposed to one another (i.e. "a desire to express individuality" vs. "an increase in the mass production of other forms of personal decorations"). The passage makes clear that the problem is "the mass production," and logically speaking, "the mass production" would be a problem because people want to express "individuality," but that's hard to do when everyone is wearing the same clothes or same jewelry.

As we said in  our full explanation , (D) is tempting, but it simply isn't strong enough. Even if people in Western  identify  a desire to express individuality, we don't know that they choose to do that through tattoos. And if they don't  identify  that desire, that does NOT mean that they don't have the desire. People could have a desire that they don't  identify , so (D) doesn't help much at all.

The problem with (E) is that it simply tells us whether attitudes have changed. You assume that if attitudes have changed, they have changed negatively. But we don't actually know that. The answer to (E) could be "yes," and that could be because people view mass-produced clothing and jewelry more favorably. Simply knowing whether attitudes have changed, without knowing how or why they have changed, isn't enough.

I hope that helps!

bronaugust · Answer

To solve this question, let us deploy    IMS's four-step technique   .

STEP #1:      IDENTIFY THE QUESTION TYPE BY READING THE QUESTION STEM

The question stem states, 'Which of the following would be most useful to determine in evaluating the researcher’s hypothesis?' Clearly, we are dealing with an evaluate question. Now that the question type is identified, let us proceed to the second step.

STEP #2:     FIGURE OUT THE HYPOTHESIS

The question requires us to evaluate the researcher's hypothesis. Therefore, we must figure out what the hypothesis is. Let us now read the para and figure out the hypothesis.

HYPOTHESIS:   Tattooing has surged in popularity in Western cultures over the last 10-15 years because of a desire to express individuality despite an increase in the mass production of other forms of personal decoration, such as clothing and jewelry.

Now that the hypothesis is figured out, let us proceed to the third step.

STEP #3:     KNOW WHAT THE RIGHT ANSWER SHOULD BE DOING/FRAME A SHADOW ANSWER

Since we are to evaluate the hypothesis, the right answer should, well, be evaluative. In other words, it should help us determine whether or not it is the desire to express individuality that has caused tattooing to surge in popularity in Western cultures over the last 10-15 years in spite of a rise in the mass production of other forms of personal decoration.

Now that we know what the right answer needs to be doing, let us proceed to the final step.

STEP #4:   ELIMINATE INCORRECT ANSWER OPTIONS

Answer options that go beyond the scope of the hypothesis, those that are one-sided, and/or the ones that are not evaluative can be eliminated.

(A) Whether the most popular tattoo designs are mass-produced -   OUT OF SCOPE   -  Whether or not most popular tattoo designs are mass-produced is beyond the scope of the hypothesis, for the hypothesis does not deal with tattoo designs in the first place.  -   ELIMINATE

(B) Whether there has been an increase in the past 10-15 years in the number of people who wish to express individuality in their physical appearance, but feel that they cannot do so by other means -   EVALUATIVE   -  While this does not deal with Western cultures per se,   if there has been an increase in the past 10-15 years in the number of people who wish to express individuality in their physical appearance, but feel that they cannot do so by other means, it will strengthen the hypothesis by justifying that it is the desire to express individuality that has caused tattooing (clearly related to physical appearance) to surge in popularity in spite of a rise in the mass production of other forms of personal (personal is not equal to physical, by the way) decoration. If there has not been an increase in the number of such people during the same period, it will weaken the hypothesis.  -   KEEP

(C) Whether the ancient civilizations that developed tattoos used them to express individuality -   OUT OF SCOPE   -  Not worried about ancient civilizations!  -   ELIMINATE

(D) Whether people in Western cultures identify a desire to express individuality -   ONE-SIDED/NON-EVALUATIVE   -  Whether or not people actually identify a need or desire to express individuality does not tell us anything about tattooing. It does not have all the components we need to evaluate. Even if people in Western cultures identify a desire to express individuality, as per this option, there is no way we can be sure about whether or not they are going to get themselves tattooed!  -   ELIMINATE

(E) Whether attitudes toward mass-produced clothing and jewelry have changed in Western cultures over the last 10-15 years -   OUT OF SCOPE   -  Not worried about any change in attitudes toward mass-produced clothing and jewelry!  -   ELIMINATE

Hence, B is the right answer.

bronaugust · Answer

The right answer should help me evaluate the hypothesis. Since this answer option does not deal with the Western Cultures in general, it leaves us with three scenarios! -> There has been an increase in the past 10-15 years in the number of people who wish to express individuality in their physical appearance, but feel that they cannot do so by other means (and an increase in such people in Western Cultures during the same period) - STRENGTHENS THE HYPOTHESIS -> There has been an increase in the past 10-15 years in the number of people who wish to express individuality in their physical appearance, but feel that they cannot do so by other means (and a decrease in such people in Western Cultures during the same period) - WEAKENS THE HYPOTHESIS -> There has been an increase in the past 10-15 years in the number of people who wish to express individuality in their physical appearance, but feel that they cannot do so by other means (and neither increase nor decrease in such people in Western Cultures during the same period) - WEAKENS THE HYPOTHESIS In all three cases, the hypothesis is getting impacted, which means I can evaluate the hypothesis with this answer option without the answer option actually stating 'Western Cultures'. LOGIC: While this does not deal with Western cultures per se, if there has been an increase in the past 10-15 years in the number of people who wish to express individuality in their physical appearance, but feel that they cannot do so by other means, it will strengthen the hypothesis by justifying that it is the desire to express individuality that has caused tattooing (clearly related to physical appearance) to surge in popularity in spite of a rise in the mass production of other forms of personal (personal is not equal to physical, by the way) decoration. If there has not been an increase in the number of such people during the same period, it will weaken the hypothesis. Hope this helps!

MS26 · Answer

Here the author present causal relationship i.e A causes B (desire to express individuality causes tattooing surge in western culture) in such cases, if A causes B that will strengthen the hypo. and also if A (cause) is removed and the effect B remains that will be weaken the hypo. which is stated in B perfectly

An anthropologist studying the social function of human skin has state

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