Logical Reasoning

PT129 · S1 · Q7 After being subjected to clinical tests

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After being subjected to clinical tests like those used to evaluate the effectiveness of prescription drugs, a popular nonprescription herbal remedy was found to be as effective in treating painful joints as is a certain prescription drug that has been used successfully to treat this condition.

Evidence

After being subjected to clinical tests like those used to evaluate the effectiveness of prescription drugs, a popular nonprescription herbal remedy was found to be as effective in treating painful joints as is a certain prescription drug that has been used successfully to treat this condition.

Conclusion

The manufacturer of the herbal remedy cited the test results as proof that chemical agents are unnecessary for the successful treatment of painful joints.

Evaluate

The manufacturer assumes that chemical agents are not part of the herbal remedy’s successful treatment of painful joints.

7.

The test results would provide the proof that the manufacturer claims they do if which one of the following is assumed?

  1. People are likely to switch

    Out of Scope

    This answer speculates about what will happen if the herbal remedy were to be found as effective as prescription drugs, but offers no support for the conclusion that chemical agents are unnecessary to successfully treat painful joints.

    7% picked this

  2. Correct

    The herbal remedy contains no

    Why this is right

    This ensures that the manufacturer is correct in asserting that chemical agents are not necessary to successfully treat painful joints. If chemical agents aren’t involved in the herbal remedy and the herbal remedy is effective, then chemical agents are not necessary to treat painful joints.

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

    81% picked this

  3. None of the people who

    Too Weak

    This supports the study showing that the herbal remedy is as effective as prescription drugs in treating painful joints by removing one possible mechanism by which the study would have mistakenly attributed the impact of remedy. But this doesn’t speak to whether chemicals were involved in successfully treating painful joints by the herbal remedy.

    2% picked this

  4. The researchers who analyzed the

    Too Weak

    This removes a possible way in which the study could have been misguided--say if different standards were used when calculating the effectiveness of each treatment. But this doesn’t speak to the conclusion’s assertion about chemicals.

    8% picked this

  5. The prescription drug treats the

    Out of Scope

    The issue isn’t whether the prescription drug or the herbal remedy cure the patient but whether they treat the patient equally.

    2% picked this

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