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805+ Level|   Resolve Paradox|               
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A) is irrelevant because the passage states as a given "the increased amount and accuracy of information disclosed under the new laws". Whether or not they were misinterpreted the argument states very clearly that it increased the amount and accuracy of the info.

B) There is not logical connection from this to the discrepancy between the accuracy of analysts' predictions

C) Whether or not the information most corporations released was true, as in (a), the passage clearly states that the accuracy has increased (at least a little bit)

D) Even still, if just one of their sources (corporate disclosures) increased in accuracy, you would expect this to improve their performance in some way. This doesn't resolve the discrepancy.

E) This directly shows that since the amount of information released increased, the analysts may have had a hard time organizing it in order to make good predictions, even if the information is more accurate.

(e) is the right answer.


Hey, I still dont get why D is bad. Here in D, it is said that "Analysts base their predictions on information they gather from many sources", so why cant any one of those resources be a bad one and can hamper their prediction which can cause this discrepancy.
As in E also, we have to assume that task being a difficult one analysts show this discrepancy.
What is the hard line which is separating D and E.
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Hey, I still dont get why D is bad. Here in D, it is said that "Analysts base their predictions on information they gather from many sources", so why cant any one of those resources be a bad one and can hamper their prediction which can cause this discrepancy.
As in E also, we have to assume that task being a difficult one analysts show this discrepancy.
What is the hard line which is separating D and E.

The key is that, even if option D was true, it would have been true even under the old laws. The analysts would have based their predictions on many sources under the old laws, and will continue to base their predictions on many sources under the new laws. The only difference is that under the new laws, corporate disclosures are more accurate. Therefore, when the new laws came into place, you would expect the accuracy to increase (because the only thing that's changed is that the corporate disclosures are more accurate).
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In correct answer E How can we say that more pieces of information have been released after new law passed?
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In correct answer E How can we say that more pieces of information have been released after new law passed?

When new laws imposing strict penalties for misleading corporate disclosures were passed, they were hailed as initiating an era of corporate openness. As an additional benefit, given the increased amount and accuracy of information disclosed under the new laws, it was assumed that analysts' predictions of corporate performance would become more accurate. Since the passage of the laws, however, the number of inaccurate analysts' predictions has not in fact decreased.

See the bolded portion
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Quote:
When new laws imposing strict penalties for misleading corporate disclosures were passed, they were hailed as initiating an era of corporate openness. As an additional benefit, given the increased amount and accuracy of information disclosed under the new laws, it was assumed that analysts' predictions of corporate performance would become more accurate. Since the passage of the laws, however, the number of inaccurate analysts' predictions has not in fact decreased.

Which of the following would, if true, best explain the discrepancy outlined above?


A) The new laws' definition of “misleading information” can be interpreted in more than one way.

B) The new laws require corporations in all industries to release information at specific times of the year.

C) Even before the new laws were passed, the information most corporations released was true.

D) Analysts base their predictions on information they gather from many sources, not just corporate disclosures.

E) The more pieces of information corporations release, the more difficult it becomes for anyone to organize them in a manageable way.
E , IMO .
Below is my reasoning .

Conclusion :
1. It was assumed that analysts' predictions of corporate performance would become more accurate.

Premise :
1. After new laws imposing strict penalties for misleading corporate disclosures were passed , the amount and accuracy of information disclosed under the new laws were increased .
Actual result :
1. Since the passage of the laws, however, the number of inaccurate analysts' predictions has not in fact decreased.

Question :
Which of the following would, if true, best explain the discrepancy outlined above?

So the paradox here is
It was assumed that analysts' predictions of corporate performance would become more accurate.
but in reality
the number of inaccurate analysts' predictions has not in fact decreased.
We need to resolve this paradox .
Lets' analyse , what if the
the increased amount and accuracy of information disclosed under the new laws were not befitting the analyst in their evaluation . In that case even if they are getting more quality information , it may not help them in overall result .

With this understanding , lets go for POE .

A) The new laws' definition of “misleading information” can be interpreted in more than one way.
--Not impacting the paradox , Irrelevant .


B) The new laws require corporations in all industries to release information at specific times of the year.
-- Even if info is available at specific time of the year , with increased accuracy it is expected to increase the overall accuracy . So not resolving the paradox -so Out

C) Even before the new laws were passed, the information most corporations released was true.
-- Its a tempting choice , however , in premise it clearly says that as a part of the law the amount and accuracy of the info increased . So if earlier analysts were getting X info . Now they are getting x + 10 info . So with increased accuracy and info , theirs overall accuracy should have increased . So not resolving the paradox -so Out


D) Analysts base their predictions on information they gather from many sources, not just corporate disclosures.
-- Lets think analysts were getting info from 5 sources total . Now after this law the info from one sources is increased and more accurate . So the overall accuracy should have increased . . So not resolving the paradox -so Out

E) The more pieces of information corporations release, the more difficult it becomes for anyone to organize them in a manageable way.

-- Yes this choice is saying that with more information , it is more difficult to manage and organize . Hence without manage and organizing data, it is unlikely to add value to the overall accuracy of the analyst. So this choice is actually trying to provide a possible reason to resolve the paradox as we thought during our analysis phase .

Hence E is my ans .
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Take away.
Paradox questions are generally based on
1)
Same thing in 2 situations that have opposite effects. (Paradox)
Saying 2 same things are different doesn’t work.
2)
opposite things in 2 situations that have same effects. (Paradox)
Saying 2 opposite things are same doesn’t work. (Choice C)

This question is type 2.
So, we know for certain that accuracy and amount of information has increased. Saying that the information before and after were true is a trap “Differences explain Similarities” as 2 things

Before
Less amount and accuracy of info
“X no of errors”

Reality (situation)
After
Increased amount and accuracy
Errors same as before

Expectation (situation)
After
Increased amount and accuracy
Errors Reduced

Additionally,
Any choice that affects 2 situations equally doesn’t work (Choice D). Since the 2 situations are different, you need to point out what makes them different by addressing any one situation (Reality or Expectation).
The correct answer choice will not break the other situation while explaining one, allowing both situations to coexist or giving the reason of how both happened.
Choice E) Explains the Reality Situation while keeping expectation as is.
More info more, more number of errors.

Additional notes.
Also saying that 1 of the situations in 1) and 2) did not happen at all (breaking one side of the paradox) is not usually what we see on Gmat as per the bible.

These questions are a prelude to the “explanatory hypothesis” type questions. In those questions you are given the hypothesis and are asked to justify/weaken a hypothesis.
Eg. Researchers asked volunteers to imagine they were running a five-kilometer race against 50 people
In these questions as above you asked to find the hypothesis itself.
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Why D is incorrect, Since analysts gather information from others resources , so if those resources are not accurate enough, the analysis would be incorrect

And how can E be correct, it does not make sense that difficulty to organize them could affect the accuracy, also what is this 'organize them really mean'.
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Why D is incorrect, Since analysts gather information from others resources , so if those resources are not accurate enough, the analysis would be incorrect

And how can E be correct, it does not make sense that difficulty to organize them could affect the accuracy, also what is this 'organize them really mean'.

So new laws impose penalties for misleading corporate disclosures. It’s a deterrent for companies who do so, even if they are very few.
The net result should be that the predictions of performance become accurate based on this deterrent.
However the (number) of incorrect predictions has not reduced

Look at this way
before and after.
Before less openness -> less accuracy

After more openness -> why same accuracy as before

Why are 2 different things ie different openness resulting in the same effect that is same accuracy

D) choice d can apply to both before and after
Before also they gathered from multiple sources. After too.

E) So misleading disclosures can mean corporates hide information or give out incorrect information.
E gives you a reason to believe that although the
corporates took desired action, the analysts could not manage it and hence the number of inaccurate predictions did not decrease.

2 things in a correct answer for paradox question
1) Let’s paradoxical situations coexist. With this option before and after can actually happen. Doesn’t eliminate one situation
2) read my note earlier about same things different effects and different things same effect.

An incorrect answer choice will never resolve the paradox. It will either violate 1) or 2) or 3) won’t make a difference because it affects the situations equally for eg choice D

C) Is very tricky. It says that most corporations release accurate information before also. But with this deterrent even more infact all can release accurate info and the effect should be more accuracy. So this choice doesn’t explain

B) times of the year is not relevant.

A) leads you to believe that misleading information could mean multiple things for different corporates. Some would ignore this law although they actually have misleading information thinking that it’s not misleading
So basically everyone’s definition of misleading is different.
So does this make you believe that accuracy should not increase. No
Because in the premise it’s given that it would initiate an era of openness
Which means with the said laws there would definitely be some improvement, even if everyone thinks that they are not misleading information now.

That’s my take

Posted from my mobile device
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When new laws imposing strict penalties for misleading corporate disclosures were passed, they were hailed as initiating an era of corporate openness. As an additional benefit, given the increased amount and accuracy of information disclosed under the new laws, it was assumed that analysts' predictions of corporate performance would become more accurate. Since the passage of the laws, however, the number of inaccurate analysts' predictions has not in fact decreased.

Which of the following would, if true, best explain the discrepancy outlined above?


A) The new laws' definition of “misleading information” can be interpreted in more than one way.

B) The new laws require corporations in all industries to release information at specific times of the year.

C) Even before the new laws were passed, the information most corporations released was true.

D) Analysts base their predictions on information they gather from many sources, not just corporate disclosures.

E) The more pieces of information corporations release, the more difficult it becomes for anyone to organize them in a manageable way.

Hi AjiteshArun, GMATNinja, VeritasKarishma

I Chose option D because of below reasoning, please help me to understand where am I going wrong-

Analysts base their predictions on information they gather from many sources and the information from corporate disclosures is more accurate. Therefore the number of inaccurate predictions has not decreased because the information from other sources has not improved.
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Analysts base their predictions on information they gather from many sources and the information from corporate disclosures is more accurate. Therefore the number of inaccurate predictions has not decreased because the information from other sources has not improved.
Hi tt147,

Let's say that we have three things, X, Y, and Z, that analysts use to make their predictions. If one of them, say X, increases (in quantity and quality), then the predictions should become better, because X is now a better indicator than before (quality) and it forms a larger part (quantity) of the predictions.

So even if the other sources don't become better, we would expect an increase in the quality and quantity of any one source to improve the analysts' predictions.
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VeritasKarishma generis

My doubts in correct answer is:E) The more pieces of information corporations release, the more difficult it becomes for anyone to organize them in a manageable way

It may become difficult, however, it is not impossible, right? Thereby I eliminated this option. Is my inference wrong?
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VeritasKarishma generis

My doubts in correct answer is:E) The more pieces of information corporations release, the more difficult it becomes for anyone to organize them in a manageable way

It may become difficult, however, it is not impossible, right? Thereby I eliminated this option. Is my inference wrong?

beeblebrox

Sure, but if information becomes more difficult to organise, it could reduce the quality of predictions.
This option tells us that even if the laws did bring in some benefit, they brought in some harm too. So this explains why the predictions did not improve.
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Hello,

in (D), are we supposed to assume that the accuracy of the other sources used before and after the new law introduction has been stable?

Because it could be that even though under the new law, corporates disclose more and more accurate information, other sources have generally deteriorated in accuracy, leading false predictions?
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hadimadi
Hello,

in (D), are we supposed to assume that the accuracy of the other sources used before and after the new law introduction has been stable?

Because it could be that even though under the new law, corporates disclose more and more accurate information, other sources have generally deteriorated in accuracy, leading false predictions?
Hi hadimadi,

Try looking at this the other way: we aren't given any information about these other sources, so we should not assume that they've changed. That is, in the absence of any information about these other sources (and given that we have option E), we shouldn't mark option D.
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AjiteshArun

Hi Ajitesh,

thanks. But on the same note, following (E), just because things become more difficult, it doesn't mean that the reporting has to become less accurate necessarily. It could be that it is more difficult, but still the case that reports are as accurate as before. For example, I can increase the difficulty of entering a room which previously had no door by installing a door.

The door is an additional step making it more difficult to enter, but not it will not necessarily increase the fail rate of people who want to enter the room.

I am not given any information if this increase in difficulty will definetely lead to less accurate reports.

Really sorry for the stupid questions, but I am terrible at CR whereas i score consistenly high in PS / DS and SC ... need to get the hang on it here
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AjiteshArun

Hi Ajitesh,

thanks. But on the same note, following (E), just because things become more difficult, it doesn't mean that the reporting has to become less accurate necessarily. It could be that it is more difficult, but still the case that reports are as accurate as before. For example, I can increase the difficulty of entering a room which previously had no door by installing a door.

The door is an additional step making it more difficult to enter, but not it will not necessarily increase the fail rate of people who want to enter the room.

I am not given any information if this increase in difficulty will definetely lead to less accurate reports.

Really sorry for the stupid questions, but I am terrible at CR whereas i score consistenly high in CR and SC ... need to get the hang on it here
Hi hadimadi,

No such thing as a stupid question. In fact, I approached CR in much the same way when I started out (so... long... ago...). :)

What we need to focus on in your response is the word necessarily. Sure, making something more difficult doesn't necessarily make it impossible, but that's an extreme way to look at the situation. Focus instead on asking yourself what is most likely to happen when it becomes more difficult for people (including analysts) to organise information in a manageable way:

a. They struggle, but all of them eventually manage to get back to the same level (or better)?
or
b. They struggle, and maybe some of them still manage to get back to the same level, but others don't.

At the end of the day, remember that the correct option doesn't need to cover every edge case we can think of. It just needs to be better than the other options.
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VeritasKarishma generis

My doubts in correct answer is:E) The more pieces of information corporations release, the more difficult it becomes for anyone to organize them in a manageable way

It may become difficult, however, it is not impossible, right? Thereby I eliminated this option. Is my inference wrong?

beeblebrox

Sure, but if information becomes more difficult to organise, it could reduce the quality of predictions.
This option tells us that even if the laws did bring in some benefit, they brought in some harm too. So this explains why the predictions did not improve.



Hi KarishmaB

But the conclusion states that the no. of inaccurate analysis has NOT decreased. But with option E - like you said if the info becomes more difficult to organize the quality of the predictions would infact decrease. That's why I eliminated E - cuz I thought we needed to prove that inspite of the more accurate and amt. of info from the companies - why has the quality of the predictions REMAINED THE SAME.

Thats why D made more sense to me - because the company's info was not the only info Analysts relied on. If they had other sources perhaps thats why they remained at the same level of inaccurate predictions

Pls help understand.
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