Researchers: Ethicists (philosophers of ethics) devote their careers to reflecting on morality and presumably care deeply about it. Moral reflection...

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Researchers: Ethicists (philosophers of ethics) devote their careers to reflecting on morality and presumably care deeply about it. Moral reflection tends to promote moral behavior, and ethicists tend to be both more prone to and more skilled at moral reflection than non-ethicists. Given that the philosophical ethical theories of ethicists broadly agree with widely accepted moral standards, we expect that ethicists would tend to be better behaved than non-ethicists with regard to widely accepted moral standards.

To test this expectation we surveyed some of the attendees of a philosophical conference to assess whether people who have contact with ethicists believe that ethicists are, indeed, particularly well-behaved with regard to widely accepted moral standards. Respondents to the survey belonged to exactly one of two categories: ethicists and other philosophers (non-ethicists). Each was asked to evaluate the moral behavior of ethicists as compared to that of other philosophers and to that of non-academics. Each respondent provided an answer to each question in the survey.

Ques. 1/3

Of the following percentages, which one is closest to the percent of the ethicist respondents who rated the moral behavior of ethicists as better than the moral behavior of other philosophers?

35%

40%

45%

50%

55%

Solution

Owning the Dataset

Understanding Source A: Survey - Research Design and Hypothesis

Information from Dataset	Analysis
""Ethicists (philosophers of ethics) devote their careers to reflecting on morality and presumably care deeply about it.""	Ethicists are professional philosophers who specialize in studying ethics and morality The researchers assume ethicists have strong interest in moral matters
""Moral reflection tends to promote moral behavior, and ethicists tend to be both more prone to and more skilled at moral reflection than non-ethicists.""	The researchers believe that thinking about morality leads to better moral behavior Ethicists engage in moral reflection more frequently and effectively than others
""Given that the philosophical ethical theories of ethicists broadly agree with widely accepted moral standards, we expect that ethicists would tend to be better behaved than non-ethicists""	The researchers predict ethicists will behave more morally than others The researchers' hypothesis is that ethicists behave better morally This expectation is based on alignment between ethical theories and common moral standards
""surveyed some of the attendees of a philosophical conference to assess whether people who have contact with ethicists believe that ethicists are, indeed, particularly well-behaved""	The study tests perceptions of ethicists' behavior through a survey The survey measures perceptions, not actual behavior Respondents are people who interact with ethicists professionally
""Respondents to the survey belonged to exactly one of two categories: ethicists and other philosophers (non-ethicists)""	All survey participants were philosophers, divided into two groups The survey includes self-evaluation by ethicists and evaluation by their philosophical peers

Summary: Researchers surveyed philosophers at a conference to test their expectation that ethicists would be perceived as better behaved than others, based on their expertise in moral reflection.

Understanding Source B: Results - Survey Data Table

Information from Dataset	Analysis
""respondents used a 7-point scale where...1 means ethicists' moral behavior is substantially better, 4 means ethicists' moral behavior is about the same, and 7 means ethicists' moral behavior is substantially worse""	The rating scale goes from 1 (much better) to 7 (much worse), with 4 meaning equal behavior Lower numbers indicate better behavior, higher numbers indicate worse behavior
""The values indicate...the number of responses for each of the ranges of ratings""	The table shows counts of responses, not averages Source B presents the results from the exact survey methodology described in Source A
Ethicists rating themselves vs other philosophers: 12 Better, 18 Same, 4 Worse	Most ethicists (18 of 34) think their behavior equals other philosophers' Very few ethicists think they behave worse than other philosophers Despite assumed superior moral reflection skills, most ethicists don't rate themselves as behaving better than other philosophers
Other philosophers rating ethicists vs other philosophers: 15 Better, 18 Same, 13 Worse	Other philosophers' opinions are split nearly evenly across all three categories Researchers expected ethicists to be perceived as better behaved, but other philosophers' ratings are evenly distributed
Ethicists rating themselves vs non-academics: 19 Better, 11 Same, 4 Worse	Most ethicists (19 of 34) believe they behave better than non-academics Ethicists show stronger confidence in their moral superiority when compared to non-academics versus other philosophers
Other philosophers rating ethicists vs non-academics: 19 Better, 16 Same, 11 Worse	Other philosophers lean toward viewing ethicists as better than non-academics Still substantial numbers rate them as same or worse Both ethicists and other philosophers show much stronger agreement that ethicists behave better than non-academics

Summary: Survey results show ethicists generally rate their own behavior favorably, while other philosophers have mixed views about ethicists' moral behavior, contradicting the researchers' initial hypothesis.

Overall Summary

The survey reveals a significant gap between theoretical expectations about ethicists' moral behavior and how they are actually perceived by their philosophical peers
While researchers hypothesized that ethicists would be seen as better behaved due to their expertise in moral reflection, other philosophers are evenly split in their assessments
Both groups agree more strongly that ethicists behave better than non-academics, suggesting that philosophical training in general may be associated with perceived better behavior
The results indicate that professional expertise in ethics does not translate to universally perceived superior moral behavior among academic peers

Question Analysis

In plain terms: What percentage of ethicist respondents rated ethicists' moral behavior as better compared to other philosophers' moral behavior?
Key constraints:
- Consider only ethicist respondents
- Focus on ratings comparing ethicists to other philosophers
- Look at 'Better' ratings coded 1-3
- Provide closest percentage from given options
Answer type needed: Numerical percentage value

Connecting to Our Passage Analysis

The analysis involves data from Source B table showing responses from ethicists rating themselves compared to other philosophers
The percentage is calculated from the count of 'Better' ratings over total ethicist respondents
Can answer from analysis alone: YES - Table data directly provides required counts

Solution Process

Relevant Findings

From Source B: counts of ethicist respondents rating moral behavior of ethicists vs other philosophers
Hypothesis: Percentage of ethicists rating themselves as morally better than other philosophers

Statement 1 Analysis

""35%""

12 ethicists rated 'Better' out of 34 total; this corresponds to approximately 35.3%
Calculation: 12/34 = 35.3%
Closest to 35%

Statement 2 Analysis

""40%""

Testing 40% option equals roughly 13.6 responses needed, which is 1.6 greater than actual 12
4.7% difference from actual
Less close than 35%

Statement 3 Analysis

""45%""

Options 45%, 50%, 55% require 15.3, 17, 18.7 responses respectively
All significantly more than actual 12
Farther from actual value

Statement 4 Analysis

""50%""

Options 45%, 50%, 55% require 15.3, 17, 18.7 responses respectively
All significantly more than actual 12
Farther from actual value

Statement 5 Analysis

""55%""

Options 45%, 50%, 55% require 15.3, 17, 18.7 responses respectively
All significantly more than actual 12
Farther from actual value

Verification

Total ethicist respondents counted as 34 (12 better + 18 same + 4 worse)
Calculation 12/34 equals 35.3%
35% option differs by only 0.3%, closest among choices
Other options show larger differences

Final Answer

35%

Answer Choices Explained

35%

40%

45%

50%

55%

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