LSAT 148 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q15

LR Question 15 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Among the many temptations of the digital age, manipulation…

QUESTION TYPE: Necessary Assumption

CONCLUSION: That journal has lots of scientific fraud.

REASONING: Many articles had images that didn’t follow guidelines.

ANALYSIS: There is a difference between fraud and making a mistake. Fraud is when you intentionally try to deceive someone. It’s possible the images were modified in order to fool people. But science is complicated. We don’t know what the journal’s guidelines were. It’s possible the authors simply made a mistake when submitting the images.

For instance, to put an image in a scientific paper you need to copy and paste it from elsewhere. This modifies the image. You may also change the size. Maybe you make it black and white for print publication. There are all kinds of innocent modifications that might accidentally violate guidelines yet not be fraud. So the argument is assuming that the manipulations were done with fraudulent intent.

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1. Verification doesn’t prove anything one way or another. The scientists might have intended fraud even if they knew there were verifications, thinking they wouldn’t get caught. 
2. This doesn’t tell us whether the images were submitted with fraud in mind. Requiring an image doesn’t make an honest person fraudulent or a fraudulent person honest.
3. The negation of this doesn’t affect the argument.
   Negation: Fraud can happen whether or not research has images.
4. CORRECT. Fraud requires intent. If you negate this then few scientists intended to commit fraud when they manipulated images. Remember, the conclusion is that fraud is a widespread problem.
   Negation: Not many (i.e. few to zero) scientists manipulated images with fraudulent intent.
5. This is not necessary.
   Negation: Widespread scientific fraud is possible in many fields, not just cellular biology.