V04-28

Question

A study concluded that women dress up more attractively during ovulation. The study was conducted using pairs of photographs of 200 women, one photograph taken during ovulation and the other not. A group of volunteer viewers were asked to choose the photograph in which they thought the woman appeared more attractive. Researchers found that 87% of the time viewers chose the photo taken when the woman was ovulating.
 
The methodology of the study above is flawed for which of the following reasons?

A. The study fails to consider that certain physiological changes in a woman during ovulation makes her look more attractive.
B. Because all the viewers were male, the results of the study were skewed by individual responses to attractive women.
C. The study fails to account for the psychological complexity of sexual desire in women.
D. The study assumes that women will dress more attractively when they have greater sexual desire.
E. Most women know when they are ovulating, and so would dress up more attractively on that day.

Bunuel · Answer

Official Solution:

A study concluded that women dress up more attractively during ovulation. The study was conducted using pairs of photographs of 200 women, one photograph taken during ovulation and the other not. A group of volunteer viewers were asked to choose the photograph in which they thought the woman appeared more attractive. Researchers found that 87% of the time viewers chose the photo taken when the woman was ovulating.
 
The methodology of the study above is flawed for which of the following reasons?

A. The study fails to consider that certain physiological changes in a woman during ovulation makes her look more attractive.
B. Because all the viewers were male, the results of the study were skewed by individual responses to attractive women.
C. The study fails to account for the psychological complexity of sexual desire in women.
D. The study assumes that women will dress more attractively when they have greater sexual desire.
E. Most women know when they are ovulating, and so would dress up more attractively on that day.

The question asks to identify a flaw in the METHODOLOGY of the study. Following are the argument blocks in METHODOLOGY of the study:
 
 Premise:  Viewers found the photo more attractive when a woman is ovulating than the one when she is not.
 
 Conclusion:  Women dress up more attractively (unconsciously) when they are ovulating.
 
The correct option will point out a faulty assumption behind the above argument.
 
 A. CORRECT.  The premise is that the viewers  found  certain photos more attractive. The conclusion is women in the photo  dressed up  more attractively. Option A explains why the jump from the premise (finding attractive) to the conclusion (dressing up attractively) is flawed - if the women looked more beautiful during ovulation because of some other reason, such as certain physiological changes, then this jump from premise to conclusion would be wrong. Maybe the women did not actually dress up more attractively, yet they were found attractive by the viewers because of the physiological changes.
 
B. The viewers were shown two photos of each women and they had to pick one photo of each women. They didn't have to select one woman over other. Therefore, this option is incorrect.
 
C. The methodology of the study has no relation to the psychological complexity of sexual desire in women. The study is about a link between dressing up and ovulation - sexual desire is out of scope of the study.
 
D. Same reason as C - sexual desire is out of the scope of the study.
 
E. This option states a reason that women dress up more attractively during ovulation. This option is not a flaw in the study.

Answer: A

Bunuel · Answer

The question or/and solution has been revised and edited. Thank you  sayantanc2k  !!!

Rickooreo · Answer

How to understand that physiological changes is not out of scope but desire in option C and D is. It can be a flaw wherein all the relevant facts required to arrive at the conclusion are not considered

leepcoast · Answer

How can a photograph represent a physiological change? 
I think this is a  low-quality  question.

bb · Answer

That's exactly the point - a photograph cannot so that is why A is the answer.

ISAliyaas · Answer

I like the solution - it’s helpful.

popcorn98 · Answer

I don’t quite agree with the solution. I think the question in itself is completely stupid. the actual flaw should have been that the concept of attractive dressing is completely subjective phenomenon to every living being so the attractiveness feature of anything cannot be equated to the being dressing attractively.

AbhishekP220108 · Answer

Hi  popcorn98  let me try to help

The author assumes that a woman's choice of clothing or styling/dressing up is the primary or sole variable that changes between the two photographs and affects the viewer's perception of her attractiveness. The argument assumes there are no innate, physical, or biological changes occurring during ovulation that could independently increase visual attractiveness. Option A directly attacks the assumption made. If ovulation causes physiological changes such as facial changes etc that make a woman look more attractive regardless of what she is wearing, then the study's methodology is deeply flawed. The researchers cannot safely conclude that the increased attractiveness is due to dressing up if they haven't controlled for these physiological variables.

Hope this helps

TangyStem · Answer

I like the solution - it’s helpful. I think I got most of the explanation in the question, however, if I could make a suggestion:

Rephrase first part of question to "A study concluded that women are more attractive during ovulation due to they dress up more attractively"

Rephrase Answer Choice E to "Most women know they are ovulating, so they put more effort in dressing up nicely on that day"

V04-28

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards