When a polygraph test is judged inconclusive, there is no reflection

Question

When a polygraph test is judged inconclusive, there is no reflection on the examinee. Rather, such a judgement means that the test has failed to show whether the examinee was truthful or untruthful. Nevertheless, employers will sometimes refuse to hire a job applicant because of an inconclusive polygraph test result.

Which of the following conclusions can most properly be drawn from the information above?

(D) A polygraph test indicating that an examinee is untruthful can sometimes be mistaken.

Which of the following conclusions can most properly be drawn from the information above?

(A) Most examinees with inconclusive polygraph test results are in fact untruthful.

(B) Polygraph tests should not be used by employers in the consideration of job applicants.

(C) An inconclusive polygraph test result is sometimes unfairly held against the examinee.

(D) A polygraph test indicating that an examinee is untruthful can sometimes be mistaken.

(E) Some employers have refused to consider the results of polygraph tests when evaluating job applicants.

TommyWallach · Accepted Answer

Hey All,

You seem to have gotten to the right answer here without too much trouble, but for those who struggled, I'd like to remind you that this is a sub-category of CR questions called "Draw a Conclusion". The rules surrounding these types of questions are very straightforward: DO NOT MAKE ANY LEAPS OF LOGIC and DO NOT BRING IN YOUR OWN INFORMATION. Everything has to come from what's written (though it will always come paraphrased, so you can't play the "matching game").

Conclusion: No conclusion in Draw a Conclusion questions

Premises: Inconclusive test fails to show truth or untruth. Some employers refuse to hire someone with an inconclusive test.

1. Most examinees with inconclusive polygraph test results are infact untruthful.
Problem: We aren't told anything about how often people do or do not lie, so we can't assume this.

2. Polygraph tests should not be used by employers in the consideration of job applicants.
Problem: Even though this seems like an entirely logical thing to conclude, given the evidence, it is too much of a leap. The passage DOES NOT tell us what should or should not happen in terms of the test.

3. An inconclusive polygraph test result is sometimes unfairly held against the examinee.
Answer: There's no logical "fair" reason to refuse to employ someone with an inconclusive test, so we can assume this directly from what we've been told.

4. A polygraph test indicating that an examinee is untruthful can sometimes be mistaken.
Answer: This is a great example of a "previous knowledge" trap. All of us know (from watching Law & Order) that polygraph tests are not always correct. But is that mentioned anywhere in the passage? No.

5. Some employers have refused to consider the results of polygraph tests when evaluating job applicants.
Answer: Much like D, this would be a logical thing to conclude in real life (some employers must choose to ignore these results if they know they don't tell you much).

Hope that helps!

-t

vivmechster · Answer

IMO C
Reason: A conclusion should always be true.

Premise 1: Sometimes machine do not work properly and give inconclusive results. Means match tie.
Premise 2: employers will sometimes refuse to hire a job applicant because of an inconclusive polygraph test result.

1. Most examinees with inconclusive polygraph test results are infact untruthful.
It is possible, but not always. Sometimes it may be truthful.

2. Polygraph tests should not be used by employers in the consideration of job applicants.
A conclusion can never be a suggestion. The word "Should".

3. An inconclusive polygraph test result is sometimes unfairly held against the examinee.
Yes true. this is a combined result of premise 1 and premise 2.

4. A polygraph test indicating that an examinee is untruthful can sometimes be mistaken.
Yes true, but sometime. Examinee can be truthful in an inconclusive test result and this choice do not address premise 2.

5. Some employers have refused to consider the results of polygraph tests when evaluating job applicants.
I am not concern what some employer did.

Hope this helps!

TooLong150 · Answer

This reminds me of the pregnancy question in the PowerScore CR Bible in the Must Be True chapter. It seems that some of their questions are GMATPrep questions with some modifications.

Reasoning:

A: Not mentioned in stimulus.
B: Whether it should be used is not mentioned in stimulus.
C:  Must be true , because an honest applicant with an inconclusive polygraph test will be denied hiring.
D: Untruthful polygraph tests are not part of the stimulus.
E: Employer refusal to consider results is not part of the stimulus.

D is especially tricky, because just one word (untruthful) makes it an out of scope answer.

warriorsquared · Answer

I was down to B vs. C, but C seemed pretty obvious. The previous posts didn't quite bring this out, so I am adding my explanation.

B - Polygraph tests should not be used by employers in the consideration of job applicants. 
This one is tempting, but you MUST keep in mind what the passage is talking about. Is it polygraph tests resuts? NO! It is inconclusive polygraph tests results.
I myself miss questions in strengthen/weaken when I lose sight of small details in the conclusion (polygraphs vs. inconclusive polygraphs). It's easy to miss that distinction, which is why you're being tested on it. 
For this question, Catching that distinction is the key for eliminating B.

What if the polygraph tests are conclusive, and say that the applicant sucks or that he's telling the truth? The passage offers no thoughts on that. The author's focus is only on inconclusive tests

C - An inconclusive polygraph test result is sometimes unfairly held against the examinee. 
C is tricky - it involves bringing in a very small assumption (the assumption being that inconclusive polygraph tests are unfair). Since inference questions are supposed to stick extremely close to the text, I get nervous when I require assumptions on inference questions. Still, this is a small assumption, and everything looked right, and I was down to B vs. C.

I felt like the unfairness aspect is a small leap given the author's tone in the passage. I felt like this leap is much smaller than the leap of riding off an entire polygraph test. 
FYI - the author's tone is indicated by phrases like "this is no reflection on the examinee", and "nevertheless".

So, I chose C. Hope that makes sense.

TheUltimateWinner · Answer

VeritasKarishma   GMATNinja 
First of all, I should not make any creativity in official question because they are considered legit all the times, but i have a curiosity about the choice C.
 Q1: 
IF i remove the word  sometimes  from choice C, is there any chance to be the choice C legit?

Q1: 
Could you take a look in the   red   part, please?
How do someone convinced that the "examinee" (in choice C) indicates "job applicant" in the argument?
Thanks__

KarishmaB · Answer

The argument says "employers will  sometimes  refuse to hire a job applicant because of an inconclusive polygraph test result."
From choice (C), if you remove "sometimes", you are generalising it to mean "employers will always refuse..." It will be wrong.

"examinee" is the one taking the polygraph test. From context, it is obvious that the argument is talking about job applicants who undergo the polygraph test (they will have an inconclusive polygraph test only if they undergo the test).

Anshuman0902 · Answer

hey experts ! took 1 mins 07 secs
it was quiet tough between C and D 
Unfortunately end up marking D 
can someone please explain why D is false.

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  Anshuman0902 . I would be happy to help clarify the matter. If you look at the passage and answer choice again, perhaps a little closer to  exactly  what (D) says, you should be able to spot the problem.

Where does the passage talk about the results of a polygraph showing the examinee to be  untruthful ? Nowhere. That word only appears in the sentence that refers to a test that  has  failed  to show whether the examinee was truthful or untruthful . Such a test would be deemed  inconclusive , according to the first line of the passage. Thus, we cannot comment on what (D) is saying. There is simply no evidence to lean on in the passage for support.

Does the passage talk about this type of test result? It sure does, and the last sentence corroborates that such a test is, in fact,  sometimes unfairly held against the examinee . There is nothing to argue against here, so it must be our answer.

I hope that helps. Be careful not to be led astray in CR. Make sure the words match up.

Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

Sneha2021 · Answer

Hi Experts,
 GMATNinja   GMATNinja Two  ChiranjeevSingh   VeritasKarishma   AnishPassiTGC

(C) An inconclusive polygraph test result is sometimes unfairly held against the examinee.

Employers will sometimes refuse to hire a job applicant because of an inconclusive polygraph test result -
2 cases are possible when employers refuse to hire:
1)Job applicant is telling the truth but the result is inconclusive - It is unfair to reject a person in this case
2)Job applicant is telling a lie but the result is inconclusive - It is fair to reject a person in this case
So we cant be 100% sure that it is unfair if one case is possible i.e 2nd case (Inference means 100% true in all cases)
I usually get confused around "sometimes" cases - If I consider the 1st case then option c is 100% true but If I consider the 2nd case, then I am not 100% sure. 
Can someone please explain what's incorrect in this thought process?
Is there any better way to understand or analyse situation when "some" is given?

KarishmaB · Answer

But you have yourself shown why "sometimes" makes sense here.
Some times, it will be unfairly held against the examinee (when the examinee is telling the truth)
At other times, it will be fair (when the examinee is lying)

Option (C) says that some times it will be held unfairly against the examinee. 
So option (C) does make sense.

Had the option said: An inconclusive polygraph test result is unfairly held against the examinee. (without sometimes) it may not have been true in every case. Sometimes it would have been unfair, sometimes fair.

krndatta · Answer

AndrewN

Sir, 
Please evaluate my reasoning.

(A) Most examinees with inconclusive polygraph test results are in fact untruthful. 
This is an incorrect answer because whether the examinees are truthful or not is not mentioned in the argument. The argument above focuses on the results of the test. The argument does not mention anything about the people taking the tests. Hence, this is an incorrect answer.

(B) Polygraph tests should not be used by employers in the consideration of job applicants.
This is an incorrect answer because the passage above does not mention anything about tests being used by employers or not. On the contrary this answer choice contradicts the information in the passage because the final lines of the passage mentions that sometimes employers would hire a job applicant. Hence, we cannot infer this statement.

(C) An inconclusive polygraph test result is sometimes unfairly held against the examinee.
This is a correct answer choice because the passage mentions above that an inconclusive polygraph test is sometimes held unfairly against the candidates. So this means that an inconclusive polygraph test would sometimes fail to consider a good candidate because the results were inconclusive. Hence, we can infer the above statement that an inconclusive polygraph test is sometimes held unfairly against the candidate.

(D) A polygraph test indicating that an examinee is untruthful can sometimes be mistaken.
This is an incorrect answer because the passage above does not mention anything about what happens when the candidate is truthful or what happens when the candidate is truthful. The passage above is only concerned with the results of the polygraph tests.

(E) Some employers have refused to consider the results of polygraph tests when evaluating job applicants.
This is an incorrect answer choice because the passage does not mention anything about what results employers consider or not. We are given no information about how employers are evaluating job applicants based on the results. Hence, this is an incorrect answer

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  krndatta . You seem to be on the right track. There are a few finer points I would like to make.

Most  in answer choice (A) is problematic. How can we make an inference on  most  examinees when their actual truthfulness is not at issue? The passage focuses on the results of a polygraph, as you said, but only on  inconclusive  results.   The information in the last line of the passage suggests that at least  some  employers use polygraph results to make hiring decisions; however, answer choice (B) misses the mark because it groups all polygraph test results together, and these are not discussed in the passage—only inconclusive results are mentioned.   I think you meant  truthful  and  untruthful , in some combination, in your analysis of answer choice (D).   Answer choice (E) is related to (B) in that, once again, we can reasonably infer that some employers look at the results of a polygraph to make hiring decisions. But their refusal to do so is the opposite of the practice the passage criticizes. The passage makes it clear that employers should not unfairly hold inconclusive polygraph results against an examinee, nothing more.

Not a bad analysis on the whole. Keep it up. When you take the time to unravel these passages and answer choices, you get better at the task.

Thank you for thinking to ask for my input.

- Andrew

KhayatiK · Answer

can some1 plz help me navigate my following reasoning : 1. shud we be "pre-thinking" in conclusion questions or no ? 
2. if yes, after reading the passage, i narrowed it down to : ( skipping some part) > irrespective (neverthless) tht inconclusive results mean candidate is nor truthful or untruthful, employeers still not hiring such guys = employeers somewhr not comfortable / dnt trust / playing it safe by not hiring inconclusive candidates. 
so i kept "employeers playing safe" in mind while looking at options. although, while going through options since cudnt find anything on these lines, option c was the next logical deduction. 
so, is my deduction incorrect ? if yes , how cn i fix it coz this is the 2nd attempt to this question after many many days and i found my self w the same reasoning. 
Any suggestions / tips?

MartyMurray · Answer

Prethinking in answering Conclusion questions isn't very helpful, and can even make answering the question harder because your prethought ideas can distract you as you seek to find the correct answer, something you have experienced, or even resemble one of the incorrect choices.

Your best bet when answering a Conclusion question is to read the passage carefully and then seek to identify the choice that has clear support, something you can point to, in the passage and eliminate all the other choices by finding failure points, i.e., elements of them that are not supported by the passage.

So, what you did to choose (C) is basically what you need to do when answering Conclusion questions.

vv65 · Answer

What made you think that your deduction is incorrect? It is quite a logical deduction.
But it is not an exact match to the answer -- and that is one problem with pre-thinking in conclusion questions. We may think of a good logical conclusion, but the answer could be something else that is equally logical. 
Sometimes the answer is hardly a conclusion at all. It is just something pulled out of the text and rephrased.

So, it is usually better to read and understand the text carefully, and then work backwards from the answer choices. Choose the answer that is true based on the text.

Usernamevisible · Answer

Requesting help.

Given we have to derive conclusion based on evidence which states that

"Nevertheless, employers will sometimes refuse to hire a job applicant because of an inconclusive polygraph test result."

My thought was we will have to say this is the right thing to do and take this evidence to prove conclusion as to why employer are rejecting which is option A.

guddo · Answer

When a polygraph test is judged inconclusive, there is no reflection on the examinee. Rather, such a judgement means that the test has failed to show whether the examinee was truthful or untruthful. Nevertheless, employers will sometimes refuse to hire a job applicant because of an inconclusive polygraph test result. 
 
Which of the following conclusions can most properly be drawn from the information above?

The passage says an inconclusive polygraph result proves nothing about the examinee’s truthfulness, but some employers still refuse to hire applicants because of such a result.  So the supported conclusion  is that an inconclusive result is sometimes treated as negative evidence even though it should not be.

(A) Most examinees with inconclusive polygraph test results are in fact untruthful.

Wrong. The passage says an inconclusive result does not show whether the person was truthful or untruthful.

(B) Polygraph tests should not be used by employers in the consideration of job applicants.

Wrong. Too broad. The passage criticizes how some employers treat inconclusive results, not all use of polygraph tests.

(C) An inconclusive polygraph test result is sometimes unfairly held against the examinee.

Correct. Since an inconclusive result reflects only the test’s failure to determine truthfulness, refusing to hire someone because of that result can be  unfair to the examinee .

(D) A polygraph test indicating that an examinee is untruthful can sometimes be mistaken.

Wrong. The passage discusses inconclusive results, not false results.

(E) Some employers have refused to consider the results of polygraph tests when evaluating job applicants.

Wrong. The passage says some employers do consider inconclusive results and hold them against applicants.

Answer: (C)

guddo · Answer

Your mistake is here: the evidence tells us only what employers do, not whether they are justified in doing it.

The passage says an inconclusive result means  the test failed to show whether the person was truthful or untruthful .

So from “employers sometimes reject these applicants,” we cannot infer:

the applicants are probably untruthful.

That would treat the employer’s reaction as evidence of guilt, but the passage explicitly says the test result provides  no such evidence .

So A is unsupported. C follows because employers sometimes reject applicants because of a result that says nothing negative about them.

When a polygraph test is judged inconclusive, there is no reflection

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When a polygraph test is judged inconclusive, there is no reflection

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