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555-605 (Medium)|   Weaken|      
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mydreammba
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An investigator divided 84 adults into two distinct groups 10 Jan 2012, 21:41
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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

Difficulty:

25% (medium)

Question Stats:

75% (01:30) correct 25% (01:37) wrong based on 232 sessions

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An investigator divided 84 adults into two distinct groups...

I agree with E, But can anyone please explain how to negate A...??
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E
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gmatv11
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An investigator divided 84 adults into two distinct groups 10 Jan 2012, 23:39
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here it is a cause and effect question

A (high caffeine) causes B(high Anxiety) but what if B(high Anxiety) causes A (high caffeine)
Hence E
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Chembeti
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An investigator divided 84 adults into two distinct groups 11 Jan 2012, 09:16
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I negate A for the following reasons:

1. Pay attention to use of the phrase "Some subjects" in A. This comparison is among the same group members and it is still possible that those members might be experiencing higher levels of anxiety than those in the other group.

or

2. Even though those 'some subjects' experience lower levels of anxiety than those in other group, we can ignore this fact because they are just some

Hope these reasons are enough.
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An investigator divided 84 adults into two distinct groups 11 Jan 2012, 12:57
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+1 E

I think that A gives the same information of the question stem.
There are people who have more anxiety than ohers in a group.
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An investigator divided 84 adults into two distinct groups 26 Jan 2012, 00:29
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Premise: Caffeine and Anxiety are correlated. Investigator found that high caffeine and anxiety occur together.HC ------- HA
Conclusion: High levels of Caffeine result in high levels of anxiety. HC-----> HA
So, basically, what the investigator is assuming is that high levels of anxiety does not result in ppl consuming high levels of caffeine. HC<-----X---HA
Choice E directly attacks that assumption, weakening the conclusion.

Hope it helps,
Nikhil
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An investigator divided 84 adults into two distinct groups 10 Jul 2012, 02:32
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Straight E.

Anxiety actually caused increased caffeine consumption, not the other way round, as erroneously stated by the conclusion. Some call this question type cause-and-effect fallacy.

Cheers,
Der alte Fritz.
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An investigator divided 84 adults into two distinct groups 19 Jun 2017, 21:04
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Please, if anybody spots any missing in this post of mine, just add more opinions.
This question is interesting because it covers the weaken-type question, and the statistics.
At least 3 solutions:
1/ A -> B, then B -> A will weaken
2/ percentage in 1 group is not irrelevant to the number of members of that group -> this is weaken
3/ 2 group are not equally divided -> weaken
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An investigator divided 84 adults into two distinct groups 23 Sep 2024, 23:54
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A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

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