Evaluating Causal Relationships Flashcards
6 cards from real Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Evaluating Causal Relationships flashcards as text
A manager notices that teams led by extroverted leaders outperform others. She concludes that extroversion causes team success and plans to only hire extroverted leaders. What reasoning error is most significant?
Answer: She is ignoring other causal factors such as team composition, resources, and task type.
Leadership style is one of many variables affecting team success; isolating extroversion as the sole cause oversimplifies a complex relationship.
Researchers observe that countries with higher chocolate consumption have more Nobel Prize winners per capita. The most accurate interpretation is:
Answer: Wealth likely drives both chocolate consumption and educational investment, explaining the correlation.
National wealth is a common cause that funds both quality nutrition and robust research institutions.
A critical thinker evaluating a causal claim should give greatest weight to which type of evidence?
Answer: A well-designed randomized controlled experiment with adequate sample size.
Randomized controlled experiments best isolate causal effects by distributing unknown confounders equally across groups.
An analysis shows that neighborhoods with more libraries have lower juvenile delinquency rates. A city council member proposes building libraries to reduce delinquency. What is the strongest counterargument?
Answer: Wealthier neighborhoods can afford more libraries and also have fewer social stressors that lead to delinquency.
Socioeconomic status likely drives both library availability and lower delinquency, making it the confounding variable.
In a Watson-Glaser context, which statement about a passage describing a correlation between two events is most defensible?
Answer: The correlation shows an association that may or may not reflect a causal relationship.
On the Watson-Glaser, interpreting correlation correctly requires acknowledging association without asserting causation.
A report states: 'Regions that increased police presence saw crime drop by 15%.' What additional information is most critical before concluding increased policing caused the crime drop?
Answer: Whether other anti-crime initiatives or economic improvements occurred simultaneously in those regions.
Without knowing what else changed, the crime drop cannot be attributed solely to increased policing.