Sociologist: A recent study of 5,000 individuals found, on the basis

Question

Sociologist: A recent study of 5,000 individuals found, on the basis of a physical exam, that more than 25 percent of people older than 65 were malnourished, though only 12 percent of the people in this age group fell below government poverty standards. In contrast, a greater percentage of the people 65 or younger fell below poverty standards than were found in the study to be malnourished.

Each of the following, if true, helps to explain the findings of the study cited by the sociologist EXCEPT:

(A) Doctors are less likely to correctly diagnose and treat malnutrition in their patients who are over 65 than in their younger patients.
(B) People over 65 are more likely to take medications that increase their need for certain nutrients than are people 65 or younger.
(C) People over 65 are more likely to suffer from loss of appetite due to medication than are people 65 or younger.
(D) People 65 or younger are no more likely to fall below government poverty standards than are people over 65.
(E) People 65 or younger are less likely to have medical conditions that interfere with

rish2708 · Answer

Awesome question. My two cents:

There are two groups of people surveyed in the study of 5k people.

Group 1: more than 65 older

Suffer from malnutrition >= 25%

Below poverty standards = 12%.

Group 2: 65 years or younger

% of people below poverty line were greater than % of people who were caught with malnutrition.

The question asks to pick one thing that does not explain this contrast. Well, here the process of elimination kicks in.
Pre-thought process:

What can be the possibile contrast?

Well from above facts we know that there is a play of a correlation of malnutrition and poverty line for sure to arrive at the explainations of the contrast.

If poverty line was really the cause of the malnutrition then we will be in a comfortable position.

So let's put our cause and effect:

X = poverty standards

Y = malnutrition.

X causes Y can be the reason that might explain the contrast explained above.

So with this in mind let's proceed to the answer.

This option brings in the cause of doctors diagnosis in case of group 1 and and thus this strengthens our belief that above 65 the problem might be because of this. On lower end even doctors are able to diagnose properly the problem is not solved and hence can be caused by below poverty line. Hence this is incorrect.

Again as in A we have a cause to doubt the probable happening of the malnutrition here, hence incorrect.

Similar for C and E. In E alternate cause strengthens our belief that the cause of the problem might be the malnutrition.

But let's see D.

Does this explain any cause and effect? NO. It talks about the cause only in this case. But we have no clue if this will help us evaluate whether the poverty standards are the real cause or not and hence this shall be our answer.

Posted from my mobile device

akela · Answer

PowerScore Complete Question Explanation

Resolve the ParadoxX, #%. The correct answer choice is (D)

The relative ease of this question underscores the importance of keeping a good pace throughout any
Logical Reasoning section, even if this means initially skipping some of the more challenging or
time-consuming questions. Remember: each question is worth one point, regardless of how difficult
it is. Many students who took the December 2010 exam wasted valuable time on questions 16 and
18 in this section, which prevented them from finishing before the time was up. The point, of course,
is not to automatically “skip” difficult questions, but to know “when to say when.” If you end up
spending too much time on a particular question, chances are that you either misunderstood a critical
idea in the stimulus, or you did not obtain a clear prephrase of the correct answer. Your best course of
action may be to leave that question for later as and move on. Remember—if you keep a good pace,
you can always return to the questions you skipped. More often than not, a second look is a lot more
productive than the first.

In this stimulus, the sociologist describes a study in which people older than 65 were more likely to
be malnourished to be poor, whereas among those younger than 65, the opposite was true:
Older than 65:  .........  % Malnourished > % Poor
Younger than 65:  .....  % Poor > % Malnourished

To explain the discrepant results, look for critical differences between the two age groups. After all,
since the stimulus contains a discrepancy where two items are said to be different, an answer choice
implying that they are similar will not explain it. The stimulus is followed by a ResolveX question,
which means that among the five answer choices, the four incorrect answer choices will provide a
resolution to the paradox, and the one correct choice will not provide a resolution.

Answer choice (A): If doctors are less likely to correctly diagnose and treat malnutrition in
their patients who are over 65 than in their younger patients, this would explain why there is a
relatively high percentage of malnourished people over 65. Because this answer choice resolves the
discrepancy between the two age groups, it is incorrect.

Answer choice (B): If people over 65 are more likely to take medications that increase their need
for certain nutrients than are people 65 or younger, it is reasonable to expect that those over 65 have
a higher chance of not receiving the nutrients they need. Since this would explain why a greater
proportion of them are malnourished in comparison to the younger population, this answer choice is
incorrect.

Answer choice (C): If people over 65 are more likely to suffer from loss of appetite due to
medication than are people 65 or younger, those over 65 would have a higher risk of malnutrition
compared to those 65 or younger. This answer choice explains the discrepancy in the proportion of
malnourished vs. poor people in each age group, and is therefore incorrect.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice.  If people 65 or younger are just as likely
to be poor as are people over 65, this implies that the two groups are similar in at least one critical
respect—their likelihood of falling below the government poverty standards. As mentioned earlier,since the findings of the study indicate that the two groups are different, an answer choice implying
that they are similar will not explain the discrepancy, and is therefore correct.

Answer choice (E): If people 65 or younger are less likely to have medical conditions that interfere
with their digestion than are people over 65, this would explain why those 65 or younger are less
likely to become malnourished. Since this answer choice helps resolve the discrepant findings of the
study cited by the sociologist, it is incorrect.

karansavani · Answer

Incredibly difficult question.

Took me about 6 minutes to create a mental map and compare it against each answer choice. However, i realised i would have solved this in half the time if i would have written it down to help me remember the various variables.

Skywalker18 · Answer

Akela , it seems that option E is incomplete. I suspect that option E might end as 'that interfere with  digestion '
Please check.

hiranmay · Answer

Hi Akela,

Please correct the option-E as below:
 (E) People 65 or younger are less likely to have medical conditions that interfere with their digestion than are people over 65.

unraveled · Answer

Sociologist: A recent study of 5,000 individuals found, on the basis of a physical exam, that more than 25 percent of people older than 65 were malnourished, though only 12 percent of the people in this age group fell below government poverty standards. In contrast, a greater percentage of the people 65 or younger fell below poverty standards than were found in the study to be malnourished.

Each of the following, if true, helps to explain the findings of the study cited by the sociologist EXCEPT:

(A) Doctors are  less likely to correctly diagnose  and treat malnutrition in their patients who are over 65 than in their younger patients. - WRONG. If not diagnosed and treated properly there would be more elders who would be malnourished.
(B) People over 65 are  more likely to take medications that increase their need for certain nutrients  than are people 65 or younger. - WRONG. Suggests yonger lot is healthy than elder one.
(C) People over 65 are  more likely to suffer from loss of appetite due to medication  than are people 65 or younger. - WRONG. Clearly explains the situation in the passage. 
(D) People 65 or younger are  no more likely to fall below government poverty standards  than are people over 65. - CORRECT. Creates more confusion to the situation.
(E) People 65 or younger  are less likely to have medical conditions  that interfere with - WRONG. Explains a little about medical conditions of younger lot.

Answer D.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Sociologist: A recent study of 5,000 individuals found, on the basis

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