December 2015 LSAT Section 2 Question 17

The radio station claims that its new format is popular with listeners because more than three-quarters of the listen...

masonnavarrete on November 20, 2019

Answer Choice A

I understand why answer choice B works, but can someone please explain why A doesn't work? I feel like the stimulus is referring to a biased sample.

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Irina on November 20, 2019

@masonnavarrete,

The issue with (A) is that the argument is not saying that the inference/conclusion is flawed because the survey is conducted by a biased party, i.e. radio station, rather the sample is drawn from a biased population as you have correctly pointed out - radio station listeners are more likely to be pleased with its format, otherwise they would not listen to it in the first place. The radio could still conduct an unbiased survey if it randomly surveyed people from a general population regardless of whether they listen to the radio station or not, so the fact that the radio station is a biased party is not at issue here.

Let me know if this helps and if you have any other questions.