A recently published paper concludes that tenured professors or those

Question

A recently published paper concludes that tenured professors or those on their way to tenure don’t enhance student learning as much as full-time lecturers outside the tenure system. Clearly, the difference between professors in the tenure system and other full-time lecturers has to do with the reward system for the former. The criterion for rewarding tenured faculty typically places a greater emphasis on research than teaching.

The above argument is based on doubts on the validity of which of the following statements?

The above argument is based on doubts on the validity of which of the following statements?

A. A tenured professor is expected to spend greater time on research activities than on teaching. 
B. Non-tenured full time lecturers are rewarded more for the research that they do than for their teaching assignments. 
C. The universities are bound by the law to continue with their existing reward systems. 
D. Generally, a tenured professor is much more experienced than a non-tenured full time lecturer. 
E. No non-tenured professor focuses more on the research activities than teaching in order to become tenured.

yashikaaggarwal · Answer

We can conclude the following from the passage:

1) The tenured professors or those on their way to tenure don’t enhance student learning as much as full-time lecturers outside the tenure system.

2) The difference between professors in the tenure system and other full-time lecturers is due to the reward system for the former.

3) The criterion for rewarding places a greater emphasis on research than teaching.

The above argument is based on doubts on the validity of which of the following statements?

A. A tenured professor is expected to spend greater time on research activities than on teaching. (Research is the main purpose he/she has been hired for. Its obvious that they will spend there time doing research, not creating any doubt w.r.t passage) (Incorrect)

B. Non-tenured full time lecturers are rewarded more for the research that they do than for their teaching assignments. (If non tenured full time lectures are been paid more to do research they will spend time doing research only, Creating indifferent statement w.r.t passage) (Correct)

C. The universities are bound by the law to continue with their existing reward systems. (No such law or rule is mentioned in the passage hence can't be concluded) (Incorrect)

D. Generally, a tenured professor is much more experienced than a non-tenured full time lecturer. (We can't say for sure who is more experienced and who is not) (Irrelevant)

E. No non-tenured professor focuses more on the research activities than teaching in order to become tenured.(Can't be said with conviction, as the passage above mention no sign of such activity by the non tenured professor) (Incorrect)

Answer is B
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ahujaparth10 · Answer

Hi. Could someone explain this type of question? What does the question exactly ask us to find?

kush09 · Answer

It is more of a weaken the argument question, where we need weaken below statement,
 "The criterion for rewarding tenured faculty typically places a greater emphasis on research than teaching."

As this is the argument used by Author to justify difference between student's learning from tenured professors and full-time lecturers. Option B Weakens the argument :

Option B: Non-tenured full time lecturers are rewarded more for the research that they do than for their teaching assignments.

If both (tenured professors and full-time lecturers) are rewarded for research work, conclusion doesn't hold.

Hope it helps.

DishaAgarwal12 · Answer

The phrasing of the confusion is very confusing 
does it meam- Which statement is the one the author is doubting?

guddo · Answer

A recently published paper concludes that tenured professors or those on their way to tenure don’t enhance student learning as much as full-time lecturers outside the tenure system. Clearly, the difference between professors in the tenure system and other full-time lecturers has to do with the reward system for the former. The criterion for rewarding tenured faculty typically places a greater emphasis on research than teaching.

The above argument is based on doubts on the validity of which of the following statements?

The above argument is based on doubts on the validity of which of the following statements?

The argument says the lower student learning with tenure system professors is explained by incentives: tenure rewards research more than teaching, so they focus less on teaching. For that explanation to work, it has to doubt that non tenure lecturers are rewarded more for research than teaching.

A. A tenured professor is expected to spend greater time on research activities than on teaching.

This matches the argument’s story about tenure incentives. The argument is not doubting this.

B. Non-tenured full time lecturers are rewarded more for the research that they do than for their teaching assignments.

If this were true, then the reward system would not be a key difference, because both groups would be pushed toward research. So the argument needs to doubt this statement. This is the key target.

C. The universities are bound by the law to continue with their existing reward systems.

Whether the system must stay does not affect the explanation of why learning differs. Not what the argument is doubting.

D. Generally, a tenured professor is much more experienced than a non-tenured full time lecturer.

This could be true and the argument could still say incentives pull tenured faculty away from teaching. The argument does not need to doubt this.

E. No non-tenured professor focuses more on the research activities than teaching in order to become tenured.

This is extreme and not required. The argument is about reward criteria, not claiming non tenure faculty never prioritize research.

Answer: (B)

guddo · Answer

Yes. It’s asking: which option is a statement whose truth the author is  questioning  (treating as  not valid ). In other words, the author’s explanation only makes sense if that statement is doubtful or false, so the author is implicitly doubting it.

egmat · Answer

It simply means:  Which statement does the author believe is FALSE?

Think of it as a  necessary assumption question stated in the negative .

The Author's Logic: 
- Tenured professors = worse at enhancing student learning
-  Why?  Because they're rewarded for  research , not teaching
- Non-tenured lecturers = better at teaching
-  Implied:  They must NOT have the same research-focused rewards

The Key Insight:

For the author's explanation to work, there must be a  difference  in how the two groups are rewarded. If non-tenured lecturers were  also  rewarded more for research than teaching, then both groups would have the same incentive structure - and the reward system  couldn't explain  the teaching difference!

Looking at Choice B: 
"Non-tenured full time lecturers are rewarded more for the research that they do than for their teaching assignments."

The author  DOUBTS  this is true. The author assumes non-tenured lecturers are  NOT  rewarded primarily for research.

Simple Test: 
If B were true → Both groups have same research incentive → Same teaching quality expected → Author's explanation fails

The author's argument depends on B being FALSE. 
 
  Answer: B

A recently published paper concludes that tenured professors or those

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A recently published paper concludes that tenured professors or those

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