Logical reasoning PrepTest 114 · Section 2 · Question 1

Incorrect. The attack on the researcher here isn't irrelevant—committing fraud in reporting data that led to a conclusion speaks to whether that conclusion is valid. Also, the researcher admitted to the fraud, so it's more of an attack on the self.

Incorrect. The author doesn't rely on the public's belief in ESP to discredit it. She relies on the falsified research to do so.47750,Incorrect. The argument dismisses the evidence from the studies supporting ESP in this argument.

Incorrect. There's no indication that there are any other scientists who ran these studies that depend on grants.47752,Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Errors in Reasoning

Stimulus Summary:
The public has heard of experiments showing ESP exists so they believe it. But one researcher admitted to falsifying data so ESP is fake.

Answer Anticipation:
The argument here concludes that contrary to popular belief and studies suggesting otherwise ESP doesn't exist. Why not? Because one of the researchers who ran one of those studies stated that the data was falsified to get grant money.

So because one researcher falsified data the Journalist throws out all of the supporting data. But there's no way to apply what is true of this one research to all the others—maybe the other studies showing the existence of ESP weren't based on fraudulent data. In assuming that this one researcher's indiscretion justifies throwing out all the research the argument is flawed.

Note that it would be tempting to consider Attacking the Person answers here as the Journalist does call a researcher essentially a fraud. However first the researcher admitted to the fraud and second that fraud speaks directly to the study that was done and so it's not out of scope to bring it up and thus there's not an Attacking the Person flaw here. Not all attacks are flaws—they're only flaws when they ignore the argument not when attacking the person addresses the argument.

Answer Explanation:
The Journalist points out a single example of falsified data to discredit all research showing ESP exists. That's a generalization from a single deceptive researcher so this answer is correct.

Key Takeaway:
Not all insults or attacks are Attacking the Person flaws. There are some instances where such an attack is related to the argument such as here where falsified data calls the results of an experiment into question or where the potential for bias is used to show that someone's motives may be suspect.