Physician: In comparing our country

Answer choices

1. A

   Irrelevant Comparison5% picked this

   The two countries that were compared with the physician's country had approximately the same ulcer

   This doesn’t provide an explanation of the discrepancy and instead provides more detail about the discrepancy itself.

   5%
2. B

   Weakens5% picked this

   The people of the physician's country have a cultural tradition of stoicism that encourages them to ignore physical ailments rather than

   This provides an alternative explanation for the discrepancy and so undermines the physician’s argument.

   5%
3. C

   Out of Scope - Other Group2% picked this

   Several other countries not covered in the physician's comparisons have more prescriptions for ulcer medication than

   Other countries are not relevant to explaining the discrepancy observed in the physician’s argument.

   2%
4. D

   Correct79% picked this

   A person in the physician's country who is suffering from ulcers is just as likely to obtain a prescription for the ailment as is

   Why this is right

   This makes a very strong connection between "whether or not you have a prescription" and "whether or not you have an ulcer". The argument's reasoning was "If prescriptions here are rarer, then ulcers here are rarer" This answer makes us feel good about using "number of prescriptions" as a metric for "number of patients with ulcers". In all the countries being studied, the relationship between having a prescription and having an ulcer is identical.

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

   79%
5. E

   Weaker Impact10% picked this

   The physician's country has a much better system for reporting the number of prescriptions of a given type that are obtained each year than

   This does sort of undermine the alternate explanation that prescriptions are rarer in this country due to under-reporting, so it strengthens somewhat. But this doesn't have as much strengthening impact as (D), which firmly connects "number of prescriptions" to "number of ulcer patients".

   10%