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605-655 (Medium)|   Evaluate Argument|   Strengthen|               
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soniasw16
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Psychologists conducted an experiment in which half of the volunteers 26 Jul 2025, 23:48
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Why can't D be considered a strengthener assuming that everyone in the study had an "equal playingfield" in washing hands across both the groups, and hence would eliminate "washing hands" as a cause for wanting to volunteer again?

GMATNinja
Researchers found that some participants in the first experiment were more likely to volunteer for a second experiment.

What led to that finding?
  • ”Half of the volunteers were asked to describe an unethical action they had performed”
  • ”The other half were asked to describe an ethical action they had performed.”
  • Thus, in the researcher’s opinion, ”SOME of the subjects failed to volunteer again IN PART because of their having described an unethical action.”

In other words, the researchers determine that one of the factors influencing volunteers’ decision to volunteer again was ethical vs. unethical storytelling.

But what does the evidence say?
  • Some volunteers washed their hands after the experiment while others did not.
  • Those who described unethical actions and washed their hands were less likely to volunteer again than those who did not wash their hands.

The evidence actually suggests a possible correlation between hand-washing and choosing to volunteer again, but the researchers do NOT address that correlation.

Now, the question becomes how we can support the conclusion that the primary issue is the ethical/unethical storytelling, NOT the hand-washing.

So, we’re looking for an answer choice that can both disentangle these two variables (hand-washing and ethical/unethical storytelling) and support the idea that describing an unethical action discouraged volunteers from volunteering again.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the answer choices:

Quote:
(A) Among the volunteers who described ethical actions, those who washed their hands were significantly less likely to volunteer for another, similar experiment than those who did not wash their hands.
If (A) is true, then the likelihood volunteers choose to volunteer again appears to depend, in part, on whether they washed their hands. But even then, the researchers conclusion is about the impact of describing an unethical action, not washing hands. Eliminate (A).

Quote:
(B) The average likelihood of volunteering for another, similar experiment was higher among those who described ethical actions than among those who described unethical actions.
(B) is interesting. If the likelihood of volunteering again is higher among those who described ethical actions than those who described unethical actions, then it seems to be true that the type of action described by a volunteer has an impact on his/her choice to volunteer again. Moreover, (B) removes the second variable, hand-washing, that would otherwise influence the decision to volunteer again. So, (B) both eliminates a possible alternative explanation for the decision to volunteer again and provides support for the researchers’ explanation of the decision to volunteer again. Let’s keep (B).

Quote:
(C) Most of the volunteers who were encouraged to wash their hands did so.
The researchers’ conclusion focuses on the impact of describing an unethical action on choosing to volunteer again. Relatively little support is given for that conclusion, but even that support is not related to the choices of volunteers that washed or did not wash their hands. For that reason, (C) is irrelevant, and we can eliminate it.

Quote:
(D) The volunteers in the study were not more disposed to washing their hands under normal circumstances than the general population was.
Again, despite the large quantity of information given in the passage about volunteers washing their hands, that information has little to do with the researchers’ conclusion. Eliminate (D).

Quote:
(E) Equal numbers of volunteers from both groups were encouraged to wash their hands.
While equal numbers of volunteers may have been encouraged to wash their hands, this does nothing to support the researchers’ conclusion that describing an unethical action had an impact on volunteers’ decision to volunteer again. Eliminate (E).

In this instance, many of the answer choices described possibilities that had no direct connection to the researchers’ conclusion. For that reason, we could eliminate those choices, and (B) is correct.

I hope that helps!
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Psychologists conducted an experiment in which half of the volunteers 07 Aug 2025, 13:21
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Why can't D be considered a strengthener assuming that everyone in the study had an "equal playingfield" in washing hands across both the groups, and hence would eliminate "washing hands" as a cause for wanting to volunteer again?
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Here's a boiled down version of the argument: we have an experiment in which half the subjects described an ethical action and half described an unethical action. Within the unethical group, people who washed their hands were less likely to volunteer for a future experiment that those who didn't wash their hands.

The experimenters then concluded that the unethical-hand-washing folks were less likely to volunteer, in part, because of having described an unethical action.

It's a weird argument, but it boils down to this: why were the unethical hand-washers less willing to volunteer again than the unethical people with gross hands? Was there something about the combination of describing the unethical action and washing their hands? Or was it JUST the handwashing?

Knowing how the subjects compare to the general population can't tell us this. Put another way, the question of whether there's a gap between the hand-washing habits of the people in the experiment and the hand-washing habits of the general population sheds no light on why there was a gap between unethical hand-washers and unethical gross-hands people.

The gap within the experiment subjects is still there, and something is accounting for it. It could be hand-washing alone. It could be the combination of talking about bad behavior and hand-washing. We still don't know.

Because (D) doesn't help us understand the discrepancy between two groups within the experiment, it doesn't strengthen the notion that describing unethical behavior played some role in this gap. So we can eliminate it.

I hope that helps!
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Psychologists conducted an experiment in which half of the volunteers 23 Aug 2025, 00:45
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Are these questions from the official Verbal Review of 2024-2025?
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Psychologists conducted an experiment in which half of the volunteers 23 Aug 2025, 01:48
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Are these questions from the official Verbal Review of 2024-2025?
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Check the tags:

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Psychologists conducted an experiment in which half of the volunteers 23 Aug 2025, 06:07
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Thanks Bunel for the revert. Is there a page where I can know the map of the tag meanings. For eg GMAT prep focus - are questions we get in official mock practice exams
Verbal review is for the extra pack we purchase etc? For lost souls like me?
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Check the tags:

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Psychologists conducted an experiment in which half of the volunteers 23 Aug 2025, 11:57
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Thanks Bunel for the revert. Is there a page where I can know the map of the tag meanings. For eg GMAT prep focus - are questions we get in official mock practice exams
Verbal review is for the extra pack we purchase etc? For lost souls like me?

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We do not have such a page explaining the tags. However, the tags are pretty much self-explanatory. If it says Official Guide, those are from the Official Guide books. If it says Verbal Review, then those are from the Verbal Review books. GMAT Prep Classic refers to the OLD GMAT mock exams, and GMAT Prep Focus is from the NEW GMAT Prep Focus mock exam edition.
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Psychologists conducted an experiment in which half of the volunteers 03 Sep 2026, 12:57
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