Public health will improve more quickly in the wake of new medical dis

Question

Public health will improve more quickly in the wake of new medical discoveries if medical researchers abandon their practice of waiting until their findings are published in peer-reviewed journals before informing the press of important research results. This is because the public release of new medical information allows people to use that information in order to improve their health, but the peer-review process is unavoidably very slow.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

(A) Many medical researchers do not agree to serve as reviewers when their own research is in a critical phase.

(B) Reviewers for many medical journals are not themselves medical researchers.

(C) People would use new medical information even if it were not first published in peer-reviewed journals.

(D) The peer-review process could be speeded up enough to produce a significant improvement in public health.

(E) New medical information that is first published in peer-reviewed journals does not usually receive public attention.

Source  :  LSAT

gmatexam439 · Accepted Answer

Public health will improve more quickly in the wake of new medical discoveries if medical researchers abandon their practice of waiting until their findings are published in peer-reviewed journals before informing the press of important research results. This is because the public release of new medical information allows people to use that information in order to improve their health, but the peer-review process is unavoidably very slow.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

(A) Many medical researchers do not agree to serve as reviewers when their own research is in a critical phase. - We are not worried about the medical researchers 
 
(B) Reviewers for many medical journals are not themselves medical researchers. - We are not worried about the medical researchers

(C) People would use new medical information even if it were not first published in peer-reviewed journals. - Seems legit. Lets keep it.

(D) The peer-review process could be speeded up enough to produce a significant improvement in public health. - We are not worried about the speeding up of the process

(E) New medical information that is first published in peer-reviewed journals does not usually receive public attention. - We are not worried about new information's reception

Show123 · Answer

Hello
In this question, I am not able to get how C is the correct answer. I get that "People wouldn't use the medical information unless it was peer reviewed" can be the assumption, but aren't this and Option C different?
Please help
Thanks

GMATNinja · Answer

Your statement is the opposite of choice (C). If "People wouldn't use the medical information unless it was peer reviewed", then they would  not  act on information that is released by the press before being published in peer-reviewed journals. Thus, informing the press of important research results prior to peer review would make no difference. The public would KNOW about the findings earlier, but they wouldn't USE the information any earlier.

So if your statement is true, the argument falls apart. But choice (C) tells us that this is not the case. Even if the findings have not been published in peer-reviewed journals, people would use information released by the press to improve their health. Thus, the public would know about the findings earlier and ACT on that information earlier. So (C) is a required assumption.

I hope that helps!

lakshya14 · Answer

How to negate choice (C)? Should I remove the "not" from the statement?

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  lakshya14 . I think  GMATNinja  has touched on this issue above, even if he was not directly addressing your question. His  not act on information  reveals the proper negation:

People would  not  use new medical information even if it were not first published in peer-reviewed journals.

The focus here is on when people would choose to act on new medical information, not on whether that information was first published in peer-reviewed journals. (As an aside, I know very few people who hold the peer-review process in such high regard. For instance, do you know anyone who is waiting on peer-reviewed research to act on the COVID-19 crisis? No, the common reaction is to panic first, think later.)

- Andrew

ManishR · Answer

Assumption is something which is unstated. Isn't option C already said in the argument ?

unraveled · Answer

ManishR

Yes, C is not the best but it is best among the option available.
More apt option would be that the researchers' information without peer review has similar qualities as that published in review journals i.e. it holds equal level of correctness (so that people would be confidently willing to use it).

Public health will improve more quickly in the wake of new medical discoveries if medical researchers abandon their practice of waiting until their findings are published in peer-reviewed journals before informing the press of important research results. This is because the public release of new medical information allows people to use that information in order to improve their health, but the peer-review process is unavoidably very slow.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

(A) Many medical researchers do not  agree  to  serve  as reviewers when their own research is in a critical phase.

(B)  Reviewers  for many medical journals are not themselves  medical researchers .

(C)  People would use new medical information  even if it were not first published in peer-reviewed journals.

(D) The peer-review process could be  speeded up  enough to produce a significant improvement in public health.

(E) New medical information that is first published in peer-reviewed journals does not  usually receive public attention .

Answer C.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Public health will improve more quickly in the wake of new medical dis

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