Clinical trials are carefully controlled studies designed to test the safety and effectiveness of new medical treatments. When researchers have...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Clinical trials are carefully controlled studies designed to test the safety and effectiveness of new medical treatments. When researchers have a ______ that a particular drug might reduce symptoms of a specific condition, they can design a randomized trial to evaluate that idea by comparing outcomes between patients who receive the treatment and those who receive a placebo.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
hypothesis
protocol
diagnosis
summary
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'Clinical trials are carefully controlled studies designed to test the safety and effectiveness of new medical treatments.' |
|
| 'When researchers have a _______' |
|
| 'that a particular drug might reduce symptoms of a specific condition,' |
|
| 'they can design a randomized trial to evaluate that idea by comparing outcomes between patients who receive the treatment and those who receive a placebo.' |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Clinical trials are the method researchers use to scientifically test whether their ideas about potential treatments are actually effective.
Argument Flow: The passage establishes what clinical trials are, then explains the process - researchers start with some kind of idea about a treatment's potential, then design controlled studies to test whether that idea holds up in practice.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
This is a fill-in-the-blank question asking us to choose the best logical connector. The answer must create the right relationship between what comes before and after the blank.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- Looking at our analysis, researchers need to have something that leads them to design a trial
- The blank comes right before 'that a particular drug might reduce symptoms' - so we need a word that describes what researchers have when they think a treatment might work but haven't proven it yet
- The word should indicate:
- An unproven idea or theory
- Something testable through experimentation
- The starting point for scientific investigation
- So the right answer should describe the kind of scientific theory or educated guess that researchers test through clinical trials
hypothesis
- 'Hypothesis' perfectly fits - it's an unproven scientific theory that can be tested
- Matches our prethinking: researchers form hypotheses (testable theories) before designing experiments
- Creates logical flow: have hypothesis then design trial to test it
protocol
- 'Protocol' refers to the experimental procedure itself
- Doesn't make sense logically - you don't 'have a protocol that a drug might work'
- What trap this represents: Students might confuse the research method (protocol) with the initial idea being tested
diagnosis
- 'Diagnosis' means identifying what disease someone has
- Completely wrong context - researchers aren't diagnosing patients here, they're testing treatments
- Doesn't fit grammatically with 'that a drug might reduce symptoms'
summary
- 'Summary' is a recap of existing information
- Wrong logical relationship - researchers don't 'have a summary that a drug might work'
- Doesn't capture the forward-looking, testable nature of what researchers need