Medical research findings are customarily

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct51% picked this

   unless medical research findings are brought to peer review by a medical journal, peer review

   Why this is right

   Since this is conditional, we can ask ourselves whether the author made this reasoning move. Was she thinking, "if medical research findings aren't brought to peer review by a medical journal, then peer review will not occur"? Or by contrapositive, "Having peer review requires having findings brought to peer review by a medical journal"? Yes! Her evidence establishes that we have to do peer review before we publish medical findings. And then her conclusion says, "so that means we have to wait until a medical journal has published the research findings". So she seems to think that peer review requires medical journals. If we negated this and said, "Hey author, it's possible to do the peer review without actually bringing those findings to a medical journal and dealing with their publication timeline" it would badly weaken the argument, because it would make it seem like we don't HAVE to wait until a medical journal publishes findings.

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

   51%
2. B

   Too Strong28% picked this

   anyone who does not serve on a medical review panel does not have the necessary knowledge and expertise

   The argument only states that the public at large is not equipped to evaluate medical claims. It doesn’t state that absolutely no one outside a review panel can do so. This is broader and stricter than needed.

   28%
3. C

   Irrelevant Quality: no public access9% picked this

   the general public does not have access to the medical journals in which research

   It didn't seem like the author was ever saying that the public doesn't have access to medical journals. The author was only saying that the public doesn't have the expertise to judge published medical findings on their own. The medical journal acts as a quality control filter and only shows people the well-vetted findings.

   9%
4. D

   Too Strong11% picked this

   all medical research findings are subjected to prepublication

   The argument never states that this applies to absolutely all research findings. In fact even the very first claim says that "customarily" findings aren't public until published in a medical journal. But that doesn't mean ALWAYS.

   11%
5. E

   Out of Scope1% picked this

   peer review panels are sometimes subject to political and professional pressures that can make their

   Out of Scope: political and professional pressures Opposite (if anything) This out of scope possibility would weaken confidence in peer review, rather than being an assumption that supports waiting for peer review. Since it raises a potential problem with peer review, it would be the Opposite, if anything, of what the author is assuming.

   1%