I chose e

@alymathieu, Happy to go over this with you. The stimulus tells us that in a recent study of 5,000 individuals, on the basis of a physical exam, more than 25 percent of people over 65 were malnourished, but only 12 percent of people over 65 fell below government poverty standards. 65 + 25% malnourished 12% below poverty That's weird. It's important to note that the 2% of people below poverty could be anywhere in this group (they don't have to be a subset of the 25% malnourished). And, even if this entire group were a part of the 12% malnourished group, there would still be 13% of the 65+ group who were not poor but malnourished. This means that no matter what, we know that there are some people in this age group who are not in poverty but are still malnourished. We're then told that a greater percentage of the people surveyed who were 65 or younger fell below poverty standards than were found in the study to be malnourished. It's important to note that we're not given any info on comparison of this group to the older group; all we know is that within the group of 65 or younger, more people are in poverty than are malnourished. We can use whatever numbers we want as an example for this as long as there's a higher percentage of 65 or younger in poverty than malnourished. 65- 50% poverty 20% malnourished This is also an interesting paradox. Like with the 65 or older group, we do not know if there is any overlap in the 65 or younger group between those who are in poverty and those who are malnourished. There could be complete overlap, or there could be none at all. However, what we do know for certain is that there are people who are 65 or younger who are in poverty but no malnourished. That's an interesting paradox. We're tasked with choosing the answer choice that DOES NOT help us to explain the findings in the study. This means that the four wrong answer choices would help us to explain what's going on in the study. (A) is incorrect because if doctors are less likely to correctly diagnose and treat malnutrition in their patients who are over 65 than in their younger patients, this helps to explain why older people are more malnourished despite their lower relative poverty levels (doctors are simply failing to correctly see that older people are malnourished, which makes them less likely to diagnose and properly treat them). (B) is incorrect because if people over 65 are more likely to take medications that increase their need for certain nutrients than are people 65 or younger, then it makes sense why a higher percentage of people over 65 are malnourished despite having fewer people in poverty than in malnourishment. Older people could actually be consuming just as many nutrients in their diet (or even more) than the younger people, but the medications they're taking are creating larger nutritional demands, leading more of them to be malnourished. (C) is incorrect because if people over 65 are more likely to suffer from loss of appetite due to medication than are people 65 or younger, then that helps to explain how there are more malnourished than poor people in the over 65 group. The appetite-suppressing medications could be causing people over 65 who are not in poverty to become malnourished because they're not eating enough. (D) is correct because if people 65 or younger are no more likely to fall below government poverty standards than are people over 65, this does nothing to explain anything. We don't care if there are more, fewer, or the same percentage of people in poverty when comparing the over 65 and younger 65 age groups. What we care about are the RELATIVE differences between the two age groups. Why are more people malnourished than in poverty in the over 65 group, and why are more people in poverty than malnourished in the under 65 group? (D) does nothing to explain this to us, so it's irrelevant. This is our choice. (E) is incorrect because if people 65 or younger are less likely to have medical conditions that interfere with their digestion than are people over 65, then it makes sense how more people over 65 could be malnourished than in poverty. Even if they're not poor, their medical conditions could be affecting their digestion, leading them to be malnourished, so this helps explain the sociologist's findings. Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any more questions!