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There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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10 Jul 2003, 19:55
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Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review, 2nd Edition
Practice Question Question No.: 55 Page: 138
There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of many surgical procedures—up to tenfold variation per hundred thousand between different areas in the numbers of hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies.
To support a conclusion that much of the variation is due to unnecessary surgical procedure, it would be most important to establish which of the following?
(A) A local board of review to each hospital examines the records of every operation to determine whether the surgical procedure was necessary.
(B) The variation is unrelated to factors (other than the surgical procedures themselves) that influence the incidence of diseases for which surgery might be considered.
(C) There are several categories of surgical procedure (other than hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies) that are often performed unnecessarily.
(D) For certain surgical procedures, it is difficult to determine after the operation whether the procedures were necessary or whether alternative treatment would have succeeded.
(E) With respect to how often they are performed unnecessarily, hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies are representative of surgical procedures in general.
Re: There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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23 Dec 2004, 08:15
There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of many surgical procedures—up to tenfold variation per hundred thousand between different areas in the numbers of hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies.
To support a conclusion that much of the variation is due to unnecessary surgical procedures, it would be most important to establish which of the following?
(A) A local board of review at each hospital examines the records of every operation to determine whether the surgical procedure was necessary.
(B) The variation is unrelated to factors (other than the surgical procedures themselves) that influence the incidence of diseases for which surgery might be considered.
(C) There are several categories of surgical procedure (other than hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies) that are often performed unnecessarily.
(D) For certain surgical procedures, it is difficult to determine after the operation whether the procedures were necessary or whether alternative treatment would have succeeded.
(E) With respect to how often they are performed unnecessarily, hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies are representative of surgical procedures in general.
Highlight below
To establish that much of the variation is due to unnecessary surgical procedures, it is necessary to eliminate the possibility that the geographical variation reflects variation in the incidence of disease treated with these procedures. Choice B, if established, would eliminate this possibility and is thus the best answer. Review boards (choice A) would provide some control against unnecessary procedures, so choice A would, if anything, tell against the suggested conclusion. Neither choice C nor choice E bears on the conclusion, since neither the conclusion nor the cited geographical variation involves procedures are of the kind choice D describes, the difficulty of determining an individual operation’s necessity would merely increase the difficulty of verifying the suggested conclusion.
I don't understand this problem: what is the main point here? And what we try to break?
Re: There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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23 Dec 2004, 10:37
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Hmmm... I'm not sure I understand your question about breaking. Perhaps if my response doesn't help, you can clarify.
The question states that there is a hypothesis that some doctors are performing a certain few types of surgery unecessarily. The question asks you to determine what would need to be known before it could be established that, essentially, there is something fishy going on. So, the first thing you need to look at (be a researcher here) is whether there is the potential for alternate causality. I would think an obvious consideration would be whether there is some other cause for the rash of certain types of illness (and hence the rash of need for those certain surgeries) in geographically dispersed areas. That's what answer choice (B) states.
Re: There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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28 Dec 2004, 12:53
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this is a tricky question, what the Author is using a negetive of negetive to arrive at positive. In other words instead of stating what weakens the statement he is asking you what strengthens the conclusion that proves the statement in the question wrong.
Here by proving that surgical procedures performed were un related to factors one can prove that surgery was not really dependent on the geographic location hence could be un necessary.
_________________
Re: There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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30 Dec 2004, 13:53
Let me take a chance at this. I did this question a while back and got it wrong at first without an explanation
My choice this time B
Elimination
A - basically weaken the suggested conclusion. If a board review, then it should be necessary
C - out of scope
D - if the opeation is diffuclt to assess and determine, then we can never be sure. If we cannot be sure, it won't strengthen the argument
E - out of scope and somewhat a pure statement rather than argument
By the way, is this a LSAT question. What is the source. This type are very tricky. Perhaps we can put together a list for the Club.
Re: There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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30 Dec 2004, 13:57
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my justification for B
B) The variation is unrelated to factors (other than the surgical procedures themselves) that influence the incidence of diseases for which surgery might be considered.
if factors for operating are not relating to incidence of disease, then these operations are unnecessary.
I think the way the the choice is written are coded in some stupid and legal language. I had problem getting past the English gate.
Re: There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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12 Apr 2005, 07:59
"B"....we need to prove that other than unnecessary surgeries there are no other factors that effect the variations in number of operations by geography.
Re: There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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12 Apr 2005, 19:07
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1) There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of many surgical procedures
2) Up to tenfold variation per hundred thousand people between different areas in the numbers of hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies.
Conclusion: Variation is due to unnecessary surgical procedures
A: A local board of review at each hospital examines the records of every operation to detemine whether the surgical procedure was neccesary.
- Does not tells us that redundant surgical procedures cause variations
B: The variation is unrelated to factors(other than the surgical procedures themselves) that influence the incidence of diseases for which surgery might be considered.
- Explains that variation is due to the surgical procedures alone and nothing else
C: There are several categories of surgical procedure(other than hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies) that are often performed unneccesarily.
- Does not explain the conclusion
D: For certain surgical procedures, it is difficult to determine after the operation whether the procedures were necessary or whether alternative treatment would have succeeded.
- Not useful
E: With respect to how often they are performed unneccesarily, hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies are representative of surgical procedures in general.
- Not useful
Re: There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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15 Sep 2005, 11:24
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The OA is B.
Here is the official explanation:
To establish that much of the varation is due to unnecessary surgical procedures, it is necessary to eliminate that possibility that the geographical varation reflects varation in the incidence of disease treated with these procedures. Choice B, if established, would eliminate this possibility and is thus the best answer.
Review boards (choice A) would provide some control against unnecessary procedures, so choice A would, if anything, tell again the suggested conclusion. Neither choice C nor choice E bears on the conclusion, since neither the conclusion nor the cited geographical variation involves procedures are of the kind choice D describes, the diffculty of determining an individual operation's necessity would merely increase the difficulty of verifying the suggested conclusion.
Re: There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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14 Mar 2006, 22:04
B
Conclusion- There is great variation in the frequency of many surgical procedure
Argument - up to tenfold variation per hundred thousand between different areas in the numbers of hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies.
shailu22 wrote:
There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of many surgical procedures—up to tenfold variation per hundred thousand between different areas in the numbers of hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies. To support a conclusion that much of the variation is due to unnecessary surgical procedures, it would be most important to establish which of the following? (A) A local board of review at each hospital examines the records of every operation to determine whether the surgical procedure was necessary.
Out of scope-- argument doen't talk about it
(B) The variation is unrelated to factors (other than the surgical procedures themselves) that influence the incidence of diseases for which surgery might be considered. Sounds good
(C) There are several categories of surgical procedure (other than hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies) that are often performed unnecessarily. If this is the case then it supports the arguments.
(D) For certain surgical procedures, it is difficult to determine after the operation whether the procedures were necessary or whether alternative treatment would have succeeded. Out of scope
(E) With respect to how often they are performed unnecessarily, hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies are representative of surgical procedures in general. it doesn't make sense
Re: There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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20 Aug 2006, 08:28
In the question stem, variation in freq of surgical process has been observed and attempt is being made to find out the cause/causes behind it. Question stem states that cause might be "unnecessary surgical procedures" - the only causes stated.
What B says is that its important to check out if there can be "other unrelated factors" that are causing this. Because if there are unrelated factors that can cause this then we cannot neccasarily say that
"variation in freq of surg process" is due to "unnecessary surg procedure"
Schools: Completed at SAID BUSINESS SCHOOL, OXFORD - Class of 2008
Re: There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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20 Aug 2006, 15:41
B
We have to find an answer that eliminates the other factors that may have led to this variations.
B says that other factors are not influencing the incidence of disease so it is probable that variations are due to reason cited in the argument.
_________________
Re: There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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22 Dec 2007, 11:13
eyunni wrote:
There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of many surgical procedures—up to tenfold variation per hundred thousand between different areas in the numbers of hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies.
To support a conclusion that much of the variation is due to unnecessary surgical procedures, it would be most important to establish which of the following?
(A) A local board of review at each hospital examines the records of every operation to determine whether the surgical procedure was necessary.
if board review at each hospital then we can come into conclusion if every surgical procedure was necessary
(B) The variation is unrelated to factors (other than the surgical procedures themselves) that influence the incidence of diseases for which surgery might be considered.
this aactually would have been answer to "weaken questions"
(C) There are several categories of surgical procedure (other than hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies) that are often performed unnecessarily.
we are concerned with other than whats mentioned in argument
(D) For certain surgical procedures, it is difficult to determine after the operation whether the procedures were necessary or whether alternative treatment would have succeeded.
this is fact which is stated unrelated to argument.
(E) With respect to how often they are performed unnecessarily, hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies are representative of surgical procedures in general.
this is strong candidate to be the correct answer. But we need to find whether geographical variation was due to performing un-ncessary surgical procedures.While A is reviewing all surgical procedures, E is reviewing only this three surgical procedure with a supporting fact that they are representative of surgical procedures. I guess since A review all the procedures against E which review only the three , A should be correct.
This was already posted (from OG10) but I am not sure why (E) can be eliminated (so easily). Can someone please explain? I think (E) is *atleast* relevant because MANY surgical procedures are not JUST the three areas: hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies. They could be representative of other procedures. Any comments?
Re: There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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27 Dec 2007, 09:43
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Go with B. Since the variation is related to two factors the disease itself or the unnecessary nature of the surgeries. B confirms the fact the variation is not related to incidence of diseases so the variation must be due to the second reason.
B) The variation is unrelated to factors (other than the surgical procedures themselves) that influence the incidence of diseases for which surgery might be considered.
Re: There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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05 Nov 2008, 11:54
There is wide variation in the surgical procedures that are performed in different geographical positions. It is possible that the variations are local to locations. That is, in other words procedures are performed unnecessarily for particular locations.
A. A local board of review at each hospital examines the records of every operation to determine whether the surgical procedure was necessary. [If this is in place then there wouldn’t be variations in the procedures PLUS no guarantee that the procedures are performed unnecessarily]
B. The variation is unrelated to factors (other than the surgical procedures themselves) that influence the incidence of diseases for which surgery might be considered. [Hold]
C. There are several categories of surgical procedure (other than hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies) taht are often performed unnecessarily. [Fine but this should be uniform across all locations – shouldn’t culminate in variations per location]
D. For certain surgical procedures, it is difficult to determine after the operation whether the procedures were necessary or whether alternative treatment would have succeeded.[ Out of scope]
E. With respect to how often they are performed unncessarily, hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies are representatives of surgical procedures in general. [Fine but doesn’t aid the argument]
Re: There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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05 Nov 2008, 13:07
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nganle08 wrote:
There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of many surgical procedures - up to tenfold variatino per hundred thousand people among different areas in the numbers of hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies.
To support a conclusion that much of the variation is due to unnecessary surgical procedures, it would be most important to resabish which of the following? A. A local board of review at each hospital examines the records of every operation to determine whether the surgical procedure was necessary.
saying that a determination can be made. so ideally the number should go down. Does not support
B. The variation is unrelated to factors (other than the surgical procedures themselves) that influence the incidence of diseases for which surgery might be considered.
C. There are several categories of surgical procedure (other than hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies) taht are often performed unnecessarily.
We are concerned about H,P and T. Not every surgery. Also does not give any reason
D. For certain surgical procedures, it is difficult to determine after the operation whether the procedures were necessary or whether alternative treatment would have succeeded. determination is tough whether a procedure is needed or not. But its talking about a subset of all surgery procedures. If determination is tough, don't it need the number of surgeries to be approximately same.
E. With respect to how often they are performed unncessarily, hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies are representatives of surgical procedures in general.
out of scope
Look at B.
Stimulus is saying Geographical factors -> unnecessary operations
How do we strengthen?
(1) by inducing a statement that says GF are the cause
(2) by inducing a statement that says nothing else can cause.
B exactly does (2). This is a strategy used in assumption Q's but helpful here.
Re: There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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22 May 2009, 06:23
There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of many surgical procedures—up to tenfold variation per hundred thousand between different areas in the numbers of hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies. To support a conclusion that much of the variation is due to unnecessary surgical procedures, it would be most important to establish which of the following? (A) A local board of review at each hospital examines the records of every operation to determine whether the surgical procedure was necessary. (B) The variation is unrelated to factors (other than the surgical procedures themselves) that influence the incidence of diseases for which surgery might be considered. (C) There are several categories of surgical procedure (other than hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies) that are often performed unnecessarily. (D) For certain surgical procedures, it is difficult to determine after the operation whether the procedures were necessary or whether alternative treatment would have succeeded. (E) With respect to how often they are performed unnecessarily, hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies are representative of surgical procedures in general.
in this question the reasoning to select C as the correct answer is that it states clearly in the backets() that much of the variation is due to unnecessary surgical procedures i.e. other than hyst....., prosta....., tonsil.....
Re: There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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22 May 2009, 07:07
atomy wrote:
There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of many surgical procedures—up to tenfold variation per hundred thousand between different areas in the numbers of hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies. To support a conclusion that much of the variation is due to unnecessary surgical procedures, it would be most important to establish which of the following? (A) A local board of review at each hospital examines the records of every operation to determine whether the surgical procedure was necessary. (B) The variation is unrelated to factors (other than the surgical procedures themselves) that influence the incidence of diseases for which surgery might be considered. (C) There are several categories of surgical procedure (other than hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies) that are often performed unnecessarily. (D) For certain surgical procedures, it is difficult to determine after the operation whether the procedures were necessary or whether alternative treatment would have succeeded. (E) With respect to how often they are performed unnecessarily, hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies are representative of surgical procedures in general.
in this question the reasoning to select C as the correct answer is that it states clearly in the backets() that much of the variation is due to unnecessary surgical procedures i.e. other than hyst....., prosta....., tonsil.....
please correct me if i am wrong...
So, OA is C or your choice is C ? I think C is irrelevant
IMO E. It's kind of a typical assumption that 2 different scopes occurring in the premise and in the argument. So, the role of an assumption is to connect these 2 unrelated facts to build up the argument strongly
Re: There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of ma [#permalink]
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23 May 2009, 08:14
Argument says that there is a great deal of variation in the frequency of many surgical procedures ......procedures like hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies has max possible variation upto 10 fold .. We need to strenghten the fact that much of the variation is due to unnecessary surgical procedures, .....this has been well estb in C , which says that apart from hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies there are several categories of surgical procedure that are often performed unnecessarily.
trust i am able to put forth my line of reasoning ..
_________________
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52% (01:54) correct
