Multiple choice

Studies show that forty percent of all students aged seventeen to twenty-five are residing outside their home districts in any given month. On the basis of these studies, a researcher concluded that sixty percent of all students aged seventeen to twenty-five are residents of their home districts year-round. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the researcher’s conclusion?

  1. More students are residing outside their home districts today than during any other period since the nineteen fifties.

  2. Many students, both males and females, change their residential status frequently.

  3. Although only a small sample of the total student population is surveyed each month, these samples have been found to be a reliable indicator of monthly student residential status.

  4. Surveys show that more students than ever before consider moving out of their home districts for education, which is an important priority.

  5. Students who are residing outside their home districts have more independence than those students residing in their home districts.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The conclusion that the author draws is that sixty percent students reside in their home districts year-round will be most seriously weakened if students keep changing their residential status frequently. That way the result of the studies would hold but the conclusion drawn by the author would not. Hence, option (2) is correct.

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