Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT114 S1 Q3 Explanation

An anthropologist hypothesized that a

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Logical Reasoning question.

TopicsPrinciple-Strengthen

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Stimulus

An anthropologist hypothesized that a certain medicinal powder contained a significant amount of the deadly toxin T. When the test she performed for the presence of toxin T was negative, the anthropologist did not report the results. A chemist who nevertheless learned about the test results charged the anthropologist with fraud. The the powder had inadvertently been tested in an acidic solution.

What this question is testing

Principle-Strengthen

Your task

Break the argument into its conclusion and evidence, then do exactly what the question stem asks with that structure.

Common trap

Answers that sound relevant to the topic but don't connect to the argument's actual reasoning.

Winning move

Predict what a right answer must do, then test each choice against the conclusion-evidence gap.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
3.

In the absence of the anthropologist’s reply, which one of the following principles, if established, would most support

Answer choices

  1. Trap2% picked this

    Reporting results for an experiment that was not conducted and reporting a false result for an actual experiment are

  2. Trap0% picked this

    Scientists can commit fraud and yet report some disconfirmations of

  3. Trap3% picked this

    Scientists can neglect to report some disconfirmations of their hypotheses and yet be

  4. Trap2% picked this

    Scientists commit fraud whenever they report as valid any test result they know

  5. Correct93% picked this

    Scientists who neglect to report any experiment that could be interpreted as disconfirming their hypotheses

    Why this is right

    Answer E is correct.

    Skill tested: Principle-Strengthen · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

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