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Updated on: 16 Oct 2020, 07:55
Originally posted by surat on 27 Feb 2004, 07:22.
Last edited by Sajjad1994 on 16 Oct 2020, 07:55, edited 3 times in total.
Last edited by Sajjad1994 on 16 Oct 2020, 07:55, edited 3 times in total.
Updated - Complete topic (510).
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Question 1
D
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
5%
(low)
Question Stats:
89% (03:00) correct
11%
(02:57) wrong
based on 3768
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Question 2
C
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Difficulty:
55%
(hard)
Question Stats:
53% (01:30) correct 47%
(01:40) wrong
based on 4061
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Question 3
A
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Difficulty:
5%
(low)
Question Stats:
91% (00:53) correct 9%
(01:19) wrong
based on 3928
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Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Question 4
E
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Difficulty:
5%
(low)
Question Stats:
87% (01:03) correct 13%
(01:20) wrong
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Time
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Question 5
C
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Difficulty:
5%
(low)
Question Stats:
79% (00:25) correct 21%
(00:47) wrong
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Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Question 6
B
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
85%
(hard)
Question Stats:
37% (01:23) correct 63%
(01:24) wrong
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History
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Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Question 7
C
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
35%
(medium)
Question Stats:
62% (00:59) correct 38%
(01:06) wrong
based on 3810
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Question 8
A
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
45%
(medium)
Question Stats:
61% (01:11) correct 39%
(01:23) wrong
based on 3663
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Not Attempted Yet
At the end of the nineteenth century, a rising interest in Native American customs and an increasing desire to understand Native American culture prompted ethnologists to begin recording the life stories of Native American. Ethnologists had a distinct reason for wanting to hear the stories: they were after linguistic or anthropological data that would supplement their own field observations, and they believed that the personal stories, even of a single individual, could increase their understanding of the cultures that they had been observing from without. In addition many ethnologists at the turn of the century believed that Native American manners and customs were rapidly disappearing, and that it was important to preserve for posterity as much information as could be adequately recorded before the cultures disappeared forever.
There were, however, arguments against this method as a way of acquiring accurate and complete information. Franz Boas, for example, described autobiographies as being “of limited value, and useful chiefly for the study of the perversion of truth by memory,” while Paul Radin contended that investigators rarely spent enough time with the tribes they were observing, and inevitably derived results too tinged by the investigator’s own emotional tone to be reliable.
Even more importantly, as these life stories moved from the traditional oral mode to recorded written form, much was inevitably lost. Editors often decided what elements were significant to the field research on a given tribe. Native Americans recognized that the essence of their lives could not be communicated in English and that events that they thought significant were often deemed unimportant by their interviewers. Indeed, the very act of telling their stories could force Native American narrators to distort their cultures, as taboos had to be broken to speak the names of dead relatives crucial to their family stories.
Despite all of this, autobiography remains a useful tool for ethnological research: such personal reminiscences and impressions, incomplete as they may be, are likely to throw more light on the working of the mind and emotions than any amount of speculation from an ethnologist or ethnological theorist from another culture.
There were, however, arguments against this method as a way of acquiring accurate and complete information. Franz Boas, for example, described autobiographies as being “of limited value, and useful chiefly for the study of the perversion of truth by memory,” while Paul Radin contended that investigators rarely spent enough time with the tribes they were observing, and inevitably derived results too tinged by the investigator’s own emotional tone to be reliable.
Even more importantly, as these life stories moved from the traditional oral mode to recorded written form, much was inevitably lost. Editors often decided what elements were significant to the field research on a given tribe. Native Americans recognized that the essence of their lives could not be communicated in English and that events that they thought significant were often deemed unimportant by their interviewers. Indeed, the very act of telling their stories could force Native American narrators to distort their cultures, as taboos had to be broken to speak the names of dead relatives crucial to their family stories.
Despite all of this, autobiography remains a useful tool for ethnological research: such personal reminiscences and impressions, incomplete as they may be, are likely to throw more light on the working of the mind and emotions than any amount of speculation from an ethnologist or ethnological theorist from another culture.
D
(A) The historical backgrounds of two currently used research methods are chronicled.
(B) The validity of the data collected by using two different research methods is compared.
(C) The usefulness of a research method is questioned and then a new method is proposed.
(D) The use of a research method is described and the limitations of the results obtained are discussed.
(E) A research method is evaluated and the changes necessary for its adaptation to other subject areas are discussed.
C
(A) A witness in a jury trial invokes the Fifth Amendment in order to avoid relating personally incriminating evidence.
(B) A stockbroker refuses to divulge the source of her information on the possible future increase in a stock’s value.
(C) A sports announcer describes the action in a team sport with which he is unfamiliar.
(D) A chef purposely excludes the special ingredient from the recipe of his prizewinning dessert.
(E) A politician fails to mention in a campaign speech the similarities in the positions held by her opponent for political office and by herself.
A
(A) life stories provide deeper insights into a culture than the hypothesizing of academics who are not members of that culture
(B) life stories can be collected easily and they are not subject to invalid interpretations
(C) ethnologists have a limited number of research methods from which to choose
(D) life stories make it easy to distinguish between the important and unimportant features of a culture
(E) the collection of life stories does not require a culturally knowledgeable investigator
E
(A) Basing all inferences made about the culture on an ethnological theory
(B) Eliminating all of the emotion-laden information reported by the informant
(C) Translating the informant’s words into the researcher’s language
(D) Reducing the number of questions and carefully specifying the content of the questions that the investigator can ask the informant
(E) Reporting all of the information that the informant provides regardless of the investigator’s personal opinion about its intrinsic value
C
(A) question an explanation
(B) correct a misconception
(C) critique a methodology
(D) discredit an idea
(E) clarify an ambiguity
B
(A) Investigators familiar with the culture under study
(B) A language other than the informant’s for recording life stories
(C) Life stories as the ethnologist’s primary source of information
(D) Complete transcriptions of informants’ descriptions of tribal beliefs
(E) Stringent guidelines for the preservation of cultural data
C
(A) The informants’ social standing within the culture
(B) The inclusiveness of the theory that provided the basis for the research
(C) The length of time the researchers spent in the culture under study
(D) The number of life stories collected by the researchers
(E) The verifiability of the information provided by the research informants
A
(A) They can be a source of information about how people in a culture view the world.
(B) They are most useful as a source of linguistic information.
(C) They require editing and interpretation before they can be useful.
(D) They are most useful as a source of information about ancestry.
(E) They provide incidental information rather than significant insights into a way of life.
Same passage with OE from OG: LINK
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03 Jun 2015, 11:13
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Takoz89
Would love to do so !!
34. Which of the following is most similar to the actions of nineteenth-century ethnologists in their editing of the life stories of Native Americans?
Lets go through the first few lines of the passage -
Ethnologists had a distinct reason for wanting to hear the stories: they were after linguistic or anthropological data that would supplement their own field observations, and they believed that the personal stories, even of a single individual, could increase their understanding of the cultures that they had been observing from without.
The following Lines clearly suggests that the Ethnologists were not a part of the Native American group the part " had been observing from without. " clearly suggests the same.
(A) A witness in a jury trial invokes the Fifth Amendment in order to avoid relating personally incriminating evidence.
The highlighted part suggests that the witness is aware of the the Fifth Amendment - Hence rejected.
(B) A stockbroker refuses to divulge the source of her information on the possible future increase in a stock’s value.
The highlighted part suggests that the Stock Broker is aware of the source of her information - Hence rejected.
(C) A sports announcer describes the action in a team sport with which he is unfamiliar.
Doing something one is not aware of - True , the Ethnologists are doing the same , they are unaware of the Native American customs , hence excluding certain information based on the usefulenss of survey as pointed out later in the passage
" Editors often decided what elements were significant to the field research on a given tribe. Native Americans recognized that the essence of their lives could not be communicated in English and that events that they thought significant were often deemed unimportant by their interviewers "
This act of omission of information was not purposefully done by the Ethnologists but just occured due to their lack of understanding (Or Biasedness)
(D) A chef purposely excludes the special ingredient from the recipe of his prizewinning dessert.
The highlighted part suggests that the chef is ppurposefully excluding certain special ingredients - Hence rejected.
(E) A politician fails to mention in a campaign speech the similarities in the positions held by her opponent for political office and by herself.
The highlighted part doesn't suggest deliberate intention/biasedness - Hence rejected.
Hope this helps you to some extent...
25 May 2011, 17:09
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First, it is important to note that these are both inference questions. Therefore, we aren't looking for anything revolutionary or extreme. We just want something that we know is true based on the passage.
#6
A--This is more tempting than most of the wrong answers, as it seems fairly reasonable to assume that people studying a culture would be familiar with that culture. However, in mid-passage we see some criticism that indicates that these investigators may not be terribly familiar with the cultures they are studying. "Paul Radin contended that investigators rarely spent
enough time with the tribes they were observing." " . . . events that they thought significant were often deemed unimportant by their interviewers. Indeed, the very act of telling their stories could force Native American narrators to distort their cultures, as taboos had to be broken to speak the names of dead relatives crucial to their family stories."
B--Correct The first part of the sentence quoted above clinches it: "Native Americans recognized that the essence of their lives could not be communicated in English . . ." Since this is mentioned as one of the flaws of the life story approach, we can conclude that the stories *were* being recorded in English, which was not the native language of these informants.
C--The flaw here is the word "primary." This makes the statement too extreme to be supported by the passage. The first few lines make it clear that people were just beginning to get intrested in recording life stories to "supplement their own field observations," which may well have been their primary source of information.
D--"Complete transcriptions" is too extreme. The section quoted for A&B makes it clear that these life stories were edited and otherwise mediated by the interviewers.
E--This is not supported by anything in the passage, and the problems mentioned above make it seems that there were no such guidelines in place.
#8
A--Correct. Note the mildness of this statement--life stories can be a source of information about how people view the world. This is fairly easy to support. Although there is no specific language about worldview, there is a great deal about conveying culture, and the final sentence helps. "such personal reminiscences and impressions, incomplete as they may be, are likely to throw more light on the working of the mind and emotions than any amount of speculation . . ."
B--*Most* useful would be hard to establish about any claim, and it certainly doesn't make sense in reference to linguistic information, as the accounts appear to have been recorded in English.
C--Again, an extreme answer. The editing & interpretation is mentioned as a problem, not a necessary step.
D--Better than B, as there is some support for this view, but "most useful" is still a tough statement to support. Additionally, the taboo against speaking the names of dead relatives might limit the accounts' usefulness as a source of information about ancestry.
E--This statement is very dismissive, so it would only be true if the author had a clear bias against this type of narrative. (Again, the choice is too extreme.) In fact, the author seems to feel just the opposite, as evidenced by the last sentence, in which the author clearly states the value of these accounts.
I hope this helps! And I hope the folks who posted about this in '04 and '07 already have their MBAs, and are not still studying the GMAT . . .
#6
A--This is more tempting than most of the wrong answers, as it seems fairly reasonable to assume that people studying a culture would be familiar with that culture. However, in mid-passage we see some criticism that indicates that these investigators may not be terribly familiar with the cultures they are studying. "Paul Radin contended that investigators rarely spent
enough time with the tribes they were observing." " . . . events that they thought significant were often deemed unimportant by their interviewers. Indeed, the very act of telling their stories could force Native American narrators to distort their cultures, as taboos had to be broken to speak the names of dead relatives crucial to their family stories."
B--Correct The first part of the sentence quoted above clinches it: "Native Americans recognized that the essence of their lives could not be communicated in English . . ." Since this is mentioned as one of the flaws of the life story approach, we can conclude that the stories *were* being recorded in English, which was not the native language of these informants.
C--The flaw here is the word "primary." This makes the statement too extreme to be supported by the passage. The first few lines make it clear that people were just beginning to get intrested in recording life stories to "supplement their own field observations," which may well have been their primary source of information.
D--"Complete transcriptions" is too extreme. The section quoted for A&B makes it clear that these life stories were edited and otherwise mediated by the interviewers.
E--This is not supported by anything in the passage, and the problems mentioned above make it seems that there were no such guidelines in place.
#8
A--Correct. Note the mildness of this statement--life stories can be a source of information about how people view the world. This is fairly easy to support. Although there is no specific language about worldview, there is a great deal about conveying culture, and the final sentence helps. "such personal reminiscences and impressions, incomplete as they may be, are likely to throw more light on the working of the mind and emotions than any amount of speculation . . ."
B--*Most* useful would be hard to establish about any claim, and it certainly doesn't make sense in reference to linguistic information, as the accounts appear to have been recorded in English.
C--Again, an extreme answer. The editing & interpretation is mentioned as a problem, not a necessary step.
D--Better than B, as there is some support for this view, but "most useful" is still a tough statement to support. Additionally, the taboo against speaking the names of dead relatives might limit the accounts' usefulness as a source of information about ancestry.
E--This statement is very dismissive, so it would only be true if the author had a clear bias against this type of narrative. (Again, the choice is too extreme.) In fact, the author seems to feel just the opposite, as evidenced by the last sentence, in which the author clearly states the value of these accounts.
I hope this helps! And I hope the folks who posted about this in '04 and '07 already have their MBAs, and are not still studying the GMAT . . .
General Discussion
31 Aug 2011, 12:54
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1. Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage?
(A) The historical backgrounds of two currently used research methods are chronicled.
(B) The validity of the data collected by using two different research methods is compared.
(C) The usefulness of a research method is questioned and then a new method is proposed.
(D) The use of a research method is described and the limitations of the results obtained are discussed.
(E) A research method is evaluated and the changes necessary for its adaptation to other subject areas are discussed.
2. Which of the following is most similar to the actions of nineteenth-century ethnologists in their editing of the life stories of Native Americans?
(A) A witness in a jury trial invokes the Fifth Amendment in order to avoid relating personally incriminating evidence.
(B) A stockbroker refuses to divulge the source of her information on the possible future increase in a stock’s value.
(C) A sports announcer describes the action in a team sport with which he is unfamiliar.
(D) A chef purposely excludes the special ingredient from the recipe of his prizewinning dessert.
(E) A politician fails to mention in a campaign speech the similarities in the positions held by her opponent for political office and by herself.
3. According to the passage, collecting life stories can be a useful methodology because
(A) life stories provide deeper insights into a culture than the hypothesizing of academics who are not members of that culture
(B) life stories can be collected easily and they are not subject to invalid interpretations
(C) ethnologists have a limited number of research methods from which to choose
(D) life stories make it easy to distinguish between the important and unimportant features of a culture
(E) the collection of life stories does not require a culturally knowledgeable investigator
4. Information in the passage suggests that which of the following may be a possible way to eliminate bias in the editing of life stories?
(A) Basing all inferences made about the culture on an ethnological theory
(B) Eliminating all of the emotion-laden information reported by the informant
(C) Translating the informant’s words into the researcher’s language
(D) Reducing the number of questions and carefully specifying the content of the questions that the investigator can ask the informant
(E) Reporting all of the information that the informant provides regardless of the investigator’s personal opinion about its intrinsic value
5. The primary purpose of the passage as a whole is to
(A) question an explanation
(B) correct a misconception
(C) critique a methodology
(D) discredit an idea
(E) clarify an ambiguity
6. It can be inferred from the passage that a characteristic of the ethnological research on Native Americans conducted during the nineteenth century was the use of which of the following?
(A) Investigators familiar with the culture under study
(B) A language other than the informant’s for recording life stories
(C) Life stories as the ethnologist’s primary source of information
(D) Complete transcriptions of informants’ descriptions of tribal beliefs
(E) Stringent guidelines for the preservation of cultural data
7. The passage mentions which of the following as a factor that can affect the accuracy of ethnologists’ transcriptions of life stories?
(A) The informants’ social standing within the culture
(B) The inclusiveness of the theory that provided the basis for the research
(C) The length of time the researchers spent in the culture under study
(D) The number of life stories collected by the researchers
(E) The verifiability of the information provided by the research informants
8. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements about the usefulness of life stories as a source of ethnographic information?
(A) They can be a source of information about how people in a culture view the world.
(B) They are most useful as a source of linguistic information.
(C) They require editing and interpretation before they can be useful.
(D) They are most useful as a source of information about ancestry.
(E) They provide incidental information rather than significant insights into a way of life.
Please discuss Q 2 , 6 and 8
(A) The historical backgrounds of two currently used research methods are chronicled.
(B) The validity of the data collected by using two different research methods is compared.
(C) The usefulness of a research method is questioned and then a new method is proposed.
(D) The use of a research method is described and the limitations of the results obtained are discussed.
(E) A research method is evaluated and the changes necessary for its adaptation to other subject areas are discussed.
2. Which of the following is most similar to the actions of nineteenth-century ethnologists in their editing of the life stories of Native Americans?
(A) A witness in a jury trial invokes the Fifth Amendment in order to avoid relating personally incriminating evidence.
(B) A stockbroker refuses to divulge the source of her information on the possible future increase in a stock’s value.
(C) A sports announcer describes the action in a team sport with which he is unfamiliar.
(D) A chef purposely excludes the special ingredient from the recipe of his prizewinning dessert.
(E) A politician fails to mention in a campaign speech the similarities in the positions held by her opponent for political office and by herself.
3. According to the passage, collecting life stories can be a useful methodology because
(A) life stories provide deeper insights into a culture than the hypothesizing of academics who are not members of that culture
(B) life stories can be collected easily and they are not subject to invalid interpretations
(C) ethnologists have a limited number of research methods from which to choose
(D) life stories make it easy to distinguish between the important and unimportant features of a culture
(E) the collection of life stories does not require a culturally knowledgeable investigator
4. Information in the passage suggests that which of the following may be a possible way to eliminate bias in the editing of life stories?
(A) Basing all inferences made about the culture on an ethnological theory
(B) Eliminating all of the emotion-laden information reported by the informant
(C) Translating the informant’s words into the researcher’s language
(D) Reducing the number of questions and carefully specifying the content of the questions that the investigator can ask the informant
(E) Reporting all of the information that the informant provides regardless of the investigator’s personal opinion about its intrinsic value
5. The primary purpose of the passage as a whole is to
(A) question an explanation
(B) correct a misconception
(C) critique a methodology
(D) discredit an idea
(E) clarify an ambiguity
6. It can be inferred from the passage that a characteristic of the ethnological research on Native Americans conducted during the nineteenth century was the use of which of the following?
(A) Investigators familiar with the culture under study
(B) A language other than the informant’s for recording life stories
(C) Life stories as the ethnologist’s primary source of information
(D) Complete transcriptions of informants’ descriptions of tribal beliefs
(E) Stringent guidelines for the preservation of cultural data
7. The passage mentions which of the following as a factor that can affect the accuracy of ethnologists’ transcriptions of life stories?
(A) The informants’ social standing within the culture
(B) The inclusiveness of the theory that provided the basis for the research
(C) The length of time the researchers spent in the culture under study
(D) The number of life stories collected by the researchers
(E) The verifiability of the information provided by the research informants
8. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements about the usefulness of life stories as a source of ethnographic information?
(A) They can be a source of information about how people in a culture view the world.
(B) They are most useful as a source of linguistic information.
(C) They require editing and interpretation before they can be useful.
(D) They are most useful as a source of information about ancestry.
(E) They provide incidental information rather than significant insights into a way of life.
Please discuss Q 2 , 6 and 8
