Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT146 S1 Q1 Explanation

Grecia: The survey that we

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

TopicsPrinciple-Strengthen

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Stimulus

Grecia: The survey that we are conducting needs to track employment status by age, so respondents should indicate their age.

Hidalgo: We don’t need results that provide employment status figures for every single age. So we should instead ask respondents merely to that they fall into.

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
1.

Which one of the following principles, if valid, most justifies

Answer choices

  1. Correct99% picked this

    Surveys gathering information for a specific purpose should not collect more detailed personal information than is necessary

    Why this is right

    This rule would look like this: If survey is gathering then should not information for a ? collect more detailed specific purpose personal info than needed for purpose Does the trigger apply? Is this survey gathering information for a specific purpose? Yes, it's trying to track employment status by age group (not by individual age). Okay, since the trigger applies, the outcome applies. This is saying that "the survey shouldn't collect more detailed personal information than is necessary to achieve the purpose of tracking employment status by age group". Does that support our conclusion? Yes, or at least it supports the implied rebuttal conclusion that "respondents should not be asked to indicate their age"! Hidalgo is saying, "Let's not ask them their specific age (we don't need figures for every single age). That personal info is more detailed than what's needed for our purpose. Let's just ask them their age range, since that's as detailed as we need for our purpose."

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

  2. Bad Trigger Match0% picked this

    Survey respondents should not be asked a particular question if they are unlikely

    This rule would look like this: If respondent is then should not likely to answer ? ask that question question inaccurately Hidalgo thinks that "we should not ask them their specific age". Does the trigger apply? Were we told that respondents are unlikely to answer the question "what is your age" accurately? No, we weren't told that. Since the trigger isn't clearly applicable to our situation, this rule goes nowhere.

  3. Bad Trigger Match0% picked this

    Sensitive personal information should be gathered only if a secure means of storing that

    This rule would look like this, once we contraposed it to get the "judgy" term on the right side. If secured means then sensitive personal of storing personal ? info should not be info not available gathered Hidalgo thinks that "we should not ask them their specific age". Does that qualify as "sensitive personal info"? Not clearly, but maybe. More importantly, does the trigger apply? Were we told that Grecia and Hidalgo have no secured means of storing personal info? Not at all. Since the trigger doesn't clearly apply to our situation, this rule goes nowhere.

  4. Bad Conclusion Match Illegal Negation0% picked this

    Surveys should be allowed to gather any information that might be needed to

    This rule would look like this: If information might then survey should be needed to meet ? be allowed to gather the purpose of survey that info Hidalgo's conclusion is that we "should ask only for age range / should not ask for specific age". He's not trying to conclude that the survey should be allowed to gather certain info. Since the conclusion doesn't really match either of the ideas Hidalgo is trying to conclude, this isn't going to work as well as the correct answer does. This answer seems to be trying to bait people into picking it, because if we did an Illegal Negation, it would be pretty useful. ILLEGAL NEGATION OF THE ANSWER If information is then survey should not needed to meet ? not be allowed to the purpose of survey gather that info That rule would actually help strengthen: we don't need to ask people their specific age in order to achieve the purpose of the survey, so according to this altered rule the survey should not be allowed to gather people's specific age.

  5. Bad Trigger Match0% picked this

    Surveys should gather detailed personal information only if survey respondents are first told about how that

    This rule would look like this, once we contraposed it to get the "judgy" term on the right side. If survey respondents then survey should are not first told how ? not gather detailed info will be used personal info Does the trigger apply? Are these survey respondents not going to be told how the information will be used, prior to being asked their age / age range? We have no idea. For all we know the people conducting the survey are going to say, "hey, we're doing a survey tracking employment status by age. Can you tell us whether you're employed and how old you are?" Since we don't know if the trigger applies, this answer goes nowhere.

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