Q13 - A survey of clerical workers'

by **maryadkins** Fri Jul 15, 2011 3:57 pm

13. (E)
Question Type: Flaw
The core of the argument could be written: those who report positive attitudes are ranked high ->positive attitudes produce excellent work. Do you see an immediate red flag in this argument? Whenever we see statements about causation"”X causes Y, or because A, B happens"”be skeptical. There could merely be correlation, not causation"”neither thing causes the other, even if they are associated in some way"”or there could be reverse causation. Y could cause X, or A could happen because of B. (E) is correct because it speaks directly to the possibility that the positive attitudes didn’t cause the great performance"”in fact, it could have been the other way around.

(A) is incorrect because although it offers a characteristic flaw on the LSAT"”an unrepresentative sample"”that’s not the issue here. We are talking about the same clerical workers in the premises and in the conclusion. There is no population shift.
(B) is incorrect. The claim is that the attitudes produced the performance"”it’s not restated, it is just stated. Furthermore"”there is evidence presented, the surveys. It is just not solid evidence.
(C) is out of scope. We aren’t interested in how secretaries view other activities.
(D) is incorrect because we’re not given two different definitions of "positive attitudes."