PrepTest 62, Section 2, Question 2
To discover what percentage of teenagers believe in telekinesis�the psychic ability to move objects without physically touching them�a recent survey asked a representative sample of teenagers whether they agreed with the following statement: "A person's thoughts can influence the movement of physical objects." But because this statement is particularly ambiguous and is amenable to a naturalistic, uncontroversial interpretation, the survey's responses are also ambiguous.
To discover what percentage of teenagers believe in telekinesis�the psychic ability to move objects without physically touching them�a recent survey asked a representative sample of teenagers whether they agreed with the following statement: "A person's thoughts can influence the movement of physical objects." But because this statement is particularly ambiguous and is amenable to a naturalistic, uncontroversial interpretation, the survey's responses are also ambiguous.
To discover what percentage of teenagers believe in telekinesis�the psychic ability to move objects without physically touching them�a recent survey asked a representative sample of teenagers whether they agreed with the following statement: "A person's thoughts can influence the movement of physical objects." But because this statement is particularly ambiguous and is amenable to a naturalistic, uncontroversial interpretation, the survey's responses are also ambiguous.
To discover what percentage of teenagers believe in telekinesis�the psychic ability to move objects without physically touching them�a recent survey asked a representative sample of teenagers whether they agreed with the following statement: "A person's thoughts can influence the movement of physical objects." But because this statement is particularly ambiguous and is amenable to a naturalistic, uncontroversial interpretation, the survey's responses are also ambiguous.
The reasoning above conforms most closely to which one of the following general propositions?
Uncontroversial statements are useless in surveys.
Every statement is amenable to several interpretations.
Responses to surveys are always unambiguous if the survey's questions are well phrased.
Responses people give to poorly phrased questions are likely to be ambiguous.
Statements about psychic phenomena can always be given naturalistic interpretations.
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