Logical Reasoning

PT8 · S1 · Q7 In a study of the effect of radiation

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In a study of the effect of radiation from nuclear weapons plants on people living in areas near them, researchers compared death rates in the areas near the plants with death rates in areas that had no such plants.

Conclusion (concluded that)

Radiation from the nuclear weapons plants poses no health hazards to people living near them.

Evidence

The researchers compared death rates in areas near nuclear weapons plants with death rates in areas without such plants.

They found no difference in these rates.

Evaluate

This is an Anti-Causal argument. These normally present evidence with Symmetric Comparisons (there was no difference in death rates) and thus conclude that a factor present in one case but not in the other is a meaningless one.

GIVEN THAT areas w/o nuclear weapons plants have similar death rates to those who with such plants,

HOW CAN WE ARGUE THAT radiation from these plants does pose a health hazards to the people living nearby?

We could exploit the difference between "deaths" and "health hazards". Maybe radiation makes you sick more often, even if it doesn't kill you.

It could also be that the areas that don't have nuclear plants have something else that causes excess deaths in their areas, and that's why areas with nuclear are comparable to areas without nuclear.

Goal

Let's find an answer that gives us way to argue that there could be health hazards from radiation exposure.

7.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the researchers’ argument?

  1. Nuclear power plants were not

    No Impact

    The conclusion is only about nuclear weapons plants, so it doesn't matter whether power plants were included in the study.

    1% picked this

  2. The areas studied had similar

    Opposite Impact

    This strengthens the author's anti-causal conclusion. These areas were fair to compare before nuclear plants arrived, and fair to compare after they arrived, so it looks like the addition of the nuclear plants didn't change anything.

    3% picked this

  3. Correct

    Exposure to nuclear radiation can

    Why this is right

    This choice gives us a way to argue that "exposure to radiation presents health hazards", because it literally says that it can cause many serious diseases. The fact that these diseases aren't necessarily fatal helps us understand why these areas, despite having more health hazards, wouldn't necessarily have more deaths.

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

    88% picked this

  4. Only a small number of

    No Impact

    We wouldn't care whether most areas or few areas have these plants. In either case, we can compare their average death rates to that of areas without plants to see if there's any meaningful difference.

    0% picked this

  5. The researchers did not study

    No Impact

    The conclusion is only about people who live near the plants, not those who work there (and don't live nearby). So it is correct for the study to have left them out. If anything, this strengthens the argument.

    8% picked this

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