ISAT Analyzing and Extending Ideas 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An environmentalist argues that banning plastic straws will solve ocean pollution. A critic responds that straws account for less than 1% of ocean plastic. What type of response is this?
- A personal attack on the environmentalist
- Evidence that challenges the proportionality of the proposed solution (Correct answer)
- An argument that ocean pollution doesn't matter
- A slippery slope claim about the ban
Correct answer: Evidence that challenges the proportionality of the proposed solution
The critic uses data to show that the solution is disproportionate to the scale of the problem it targets.
Question 2: Which scenario best demonstrates deductive reasoning?
- Observing that ten swans are white and concluding all swans are white
- Knowing all mammals breathe air and that whales are mammals, so concluding whales breathe air (Correct answer)
- Noticing a pattern in sales data and predicting next month's figures
- Hypothesizing that stress causes illness based on patient interviews
Correct answer: Knowing all mammals breathe air and that whales are mammals, so concluding whales breathe air
Deductive reasoning applies a general rule to a specific case to reach a guaranteed conclusion.
Question 3: A writer claims that the rise of streaming services is responsible for declining cinema attendance. To make the strongest case, the writer should additionally provide:
- A list of popular streaming shows
- Controlled data showing attendance fell specifically after streaming expanded, with other factors held constant (Correct answer)
- Quotes from filmmakers about streaming's impact
- A comparison of streaming prices versus cinema ticket prices
Correct answer: Controlled data showing attendance fell specifically after streaming expanded, with other factors held constant
Controlled data that isolates streaming's effect from other variables most directly establishes a causal link.
Question 4: A passage proposes that because violent video games and violent crime both increased in the 1990s, video games cause violence. A student correctly identifies this as:
- A valid inductive argument based on real trends
- A spurious correlation that ignores other social factors from the same period (Correct answer)
- A deductive argument with a valid structure
- An appeal to tradition
Correct answer: A spurious correlation that ignores other social factors from the same period
Many social changes occurred simultaneously in the 1990s, making a direct causal link between the two trends unwarranted.
Question 5: When extending a scientific finding to a new context, which practice best maintains intellectual honesty?
- Apply the finding broadly to maximize its impact
- Clearly identify the assumptions required for the extension to hold (Correct answer)
- Dismiss findings that don't translate perfectly
- Only use findings published in the last year
Correct answer: Clearly identify the assumptions required for the extension to hold
Identifying assumptions makes the limits of the extension transparent and allows others to evaluate its validity.
Question 6: A student notices that cities with more hospitals have higher death rates. She concludes hospitals are dangerous. What explains this flawed reasoning?
- She ignored hospital funding data
- People go to hospitals because they are already ill, so hospitals cluster with illness-related deaths (Correct answer)
- The study only covered urban areas
- Death rates are not a reliable health metric
Correct answer: People go to hospitals because they are already ill, so hospitals cluster with illness-related deaths
This is a classic case of reverse causation: illness drives hospital presence, not the other way around.
Question 7: Which strategy most effectively strengthens an argument that relies on a single case study?
- Describe the case in greater detail
- Supplement the case study with broader data showing the case is representative (Correct answer)
- Argue that one example is sufficient for any claim
- Replace quantitative data with more qualitative descriptions
Correct answer: Supplement the case study with broader data showing the case is representative
Showing the case is representative of a larger pattern addresses the key weakness of generalizability.
ISAT Analyzing and Extending Ideas 5
An environmentalist argues that banning plastic straws will solve ocean pollution.
A critic responds that straws account for less than 1% of ocean plastic.
What type of response is this?