Researchers: Ethicists (\"philosophers of ethics\") devote their careers to reflecting on morality and presumably care deeply about it. Moral reflecti...
GMAT Multi Source Reasoning : (MSR) Questions
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 conducted a survey of 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. The attendees - each among exactly one of the categories of \"ethicist\", \"other philosophers\" (non-ethicists), and \"non-academics\" - were asked to evaluate the moral behavior of ethicists as compared to that of other philosophers and non-academics.
For each of the following statements about the respondents to the survey, select Yes if it accurately reflects the information provided. Otherwise, select No.
OWNING THE DATASET
Understanding Source A: Text Source - Survey Description
| Information from Dataset | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Ethicists (philosophers of ethics) devote their careers to reflecting on morality and presumably care deeply about it." |
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| "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." |
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| "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" |
|
| "conducted a survey of attendees of a philosophical conference" |
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| "attendees—each among exactly one of the categories of ethicist, other philosophers (non-ethicists), and non-academics" |
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| "asked to evaluate the moral behavior of ethicists as compared to that of other philosophers and non-academics" |
|
Summary: Researchers surveyed conference attendees to test whether ethicists, who study morality professionally, are perceived as behaving more morally than other philosophers and non-academics.
Understanding Source B: Table - Survey Results with Rating Scale
| Information from Dataset | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "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" |
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| "values in the comparison group columns indicate the average (arithmetic mean)" |
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| Ethicists (34): rated other philosophers 3.4_, non-academics 3.1_ |
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| Other philosophers (47): rated other philosophers 4.0, non-academics 3.7 |
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| Non-academics (23): rated other philosophers 3.8, non-academics 4.0 |
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Summary: Survey results show ethicists rate themselves as slightly better behaved, while other philosophers and non-academics see little to no difference—contradicting the researchers' expectation that ethicists would be viewed as morally superior.
Understanding Source C: Table - Distribution of Individual Responses
| Information from Dataset | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "number of responses for each of the ranges of ratings: better (1–3), about the same (4), and worse (5–7)" |
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| Ethicists comparing to other philosophers: 12 better, 18 same, 4 worse |
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| Other philosophers comparing to other philosophers: 15 better, 18 same, 14 worse |
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| Ethicists comparing to non-academics: 19 better, 11 same, 4 worse |
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| Other philosophers comparing to non-academics: 19 better, 17 same, 11 worse |
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Summary: Response distributions reveal that ethicists consistently give themselves few negative ratings, while other philosophers show more varied opinions—highlighting a self-favorability bias among ethicists that explains the average scores.
Overall Summary
- The survey reveals a striking gap between the researchers' hypothesis and reality
- Researchers expected ethicists to be viewed as more morally behaved due to their expertise
- Only ethicists themselves hold this view
- Other philosophers see no difference between ethicists and themselves (rating of 4.0)
- The distribution data shows ethicists have a clear self-favorability bias
- Ethicists rarely rate themselves as "worse" (only 4 out of 34 responses in each comparison)
- This suggests that professional expertise in ethics does not translate to being perceived as more ethical by one's colleagues
Question Analysis
The question asks us to evaluate whether three statements about survey respondents are true or false based on provided data. We must determine if each statement accurately reflects the information provided and answer Yes or No for each statement. The focus is on respondent group numbers and compositions, requiring fact verification to check if majority claims are mathematically true.
Connecting to Our Analysis
The respondent numbers are clearly shown in the source data: Ethicists (34), Other philosophers (47), Non-academics (23). Total = 104 respondents. All necessary numbers are directly available in the source data, allowing us to answer from the analysis alone.
Extracting Relevant Findings
We are evaluating three majority claims about survey respondents. The baseline data shows:
- Total respondents: 104 (34 ethicists + 47 other philosophers + 23 non-academics)
- Each statement claims a majority (\(\mathrm{\gt 50\%}\)) of a specific group
- We need to calculate percentages and compare against the 50% threshold
Individual Statement Evaluations
Statement 1 Evaluation
Were most philosophers in the survey ethicists?
- Calculation: Ethicists among philosophers: 34 out of 81 total philosophers
- Percentage: \(\mathrm{34/81 = 41.98\%}\)
- Comparison: 41.98% is \(\mathrm{\lt 50\%}\) (not a majority)
- Answer: NO - Ethicists were NOT the majority of philosophers
Statement 2 Evaluation
Were most survey respondents NOT ethicists?
- Calculation: Non-ethicists: 70 out of 104 total respondents
- Percentage: \(\mathrm{70/104 = 67.31\%}\)
- Comparison: 67.31% is \(\mathrm{\gt 50\%}\) (is a majority)
- Answer: YES - The majority of respondents were NOT ethicists
Statement 3 Evaluation
Were most survey respondents philosophers?
- Calculation: Philosophers (ethicists + other): 81 out of 104 total
- Percentage: \(\mathrm{81/104 = 77.88\%}\)
- Comparison: 77.88% is \(\mathrm{\gt 50\%}\) (is a majority)
- Answer: YES - The majority of respondents were philosophers
Systematic Checking
Verification of calculations and logic:
- Total philosophers = \(\mathrm{34 + 47 = 81}\) (verified)
- Total non-ethicists = \(\mathrm{47 + 23 = 70}\) (verified)
- Total respondents = \(\mathrm{34 + 47 + 23 = 104}\) (verified)
- All percentage calculations use correct denominators
- Majority threshold of \(\mathrm{\gt 50\%}\) correctly applied
Final Answer
- Statement 1: No
- Statement 2: Yes
- Statement 3: Yes
The majority of philosophers who responded to the survey were ethicists.
The majority of people who responded to the survey were not ethicists.
The majority of people who responded to the survey were philosophers.