LSAT Explanation PT 20, S1, Q15: A report of a government survey

LSAT Question Stem

The school official can most properly criticize the reasoning by which the survey report reached its result for failure to do which one of the following? 

Logical Reasoning Question Type

This is a Flaw question. 

Correct Answer

The correct answer to this question is C. 

LSAT Question Complete Explanation

First, let's analyze the argument in the passage. The passage discusses a government survey that concluded that Center City was among the ten cities with the highest dropout rate from its schools. The survey data was obtained by asking all city residents over the age of 19 whether they were high school graduates and computing the proportion who were not. A city school official objected to the result, stating that it did not seem accurate according to the schools' figures.

The structure of the argument is as follows:

- Premise: The government survey asked all city residents over the age of 19 whether they were high school graduates and computed the proportion who were not.

- Conclusion: Center City was among the ten cities with the highest dropout rate from its schools.

An "Evaluate" question for this argument would be: "Were the city residents surveyed representative of the students who attended the city's schools?"

Now, let's discuss the question type and the answer choices. This is a Flaw question, asking us to identify the failure in the reasoning of the survey report.

a) This answer choice is incorrect because the survey does include any dropouts that would have occurred before high school. As long as they are not high school graduates, they would be counted as dropouts, regardless of when they dropped out.

b) This answer choice is not relevant to the argument, as it focuses on residents who completed high school in fewer years than usual. These residents would be considered non-dropouts, so their completion time does not affect the dropout rate.

c) This is the correct answer choice. The survey did not distinguish between residents who attended the city's schools and those who received their schooling elsewhere. Thus, the survey may not accurately represent the dropout rate of the city's schools, as it includes residents who may have dropped out from schools in other cities.

d) This answer choice is not relevant to the argument, as it focuses on predicting future high school dropout rates. The argument is concerned with the accuracy of the current survey report, not future predictions.

e) This answer choice is not relevant to the argument, as it focuses on whether a diploma from the city's high schools signaled the same level of achievement over time. The argument is concerned with the accuracy of the survey report in determining the dropout rate, not the level of achievement represented by a diploma.