Section 6 is designed to assess skills in deduction, assumption identification, and meaning. Deduction is also assessed in sections 1 and 5. Meaning is assessed in section 2. Section 6 adds the skill of identifying assumptions. According to the information provided with
the CCTT, “An assumption fills a gap in reasoning; you must decide what is being taken for granted.” The instructions in this section state, “Items 43 through 46 provide situations in which a definition is called for. From the three definitions that follow each description, pick the one (A, B, or C) that gives the best meaning.” Participants were asked to think-aloud on 2 of 4 questions and achieved a mean aggregate section level score of 1.5/4 (SD = 1.06). The think-aloud
questions revolve around the definition of a stock car.
Item-level responses on TAP question 43
Question 43 involves a discussion between Bill and his mother. Bill’s mother states “that’s a nice stock car you have there,” and then Bill explains why his car is not a stock car. Based on Bill’s response, the test-taker must choose between three sentences that define the meaning of stock car. Option A includes two contradictory ideas that are both stated in Bill’s response. Option B consists of two clearly stated ideas from Bill’s response that differentiate Bill’s car from a stock car. Option C, the correct answer, is the unstated idea that “a stock car is a standard automobile, as turned out by the factory and sold to the public.” It is this unstated assumption that Bill is reacting against in defining why his car is not a stock car. Three of the 24 participants (A7, E12, E15) did not provide meaningful verbal data.
Seven of the 21 participants (A3, A5, E6, A16, E18, E19, A25) who provided verbal data selected option A. Two participants (A16, A25) evaluated all three options as wrong. A16 did not say why she chose A. A25 only stated, “I think it’s A because from the three choices, this one makes the most sense.” Four of the participants (A3, E6, E18, E19) either ignored or immediately eliminated the correct option C. E6’s initial expression was, “I don’t think it’s C.” A3 said, “First thing it is not C.” After reading C, E18 stated, “No, its’s not C.” A3, E6, and E19 missed that what Bill described was not a stock car. For example, E19 stated, “So a stock car is
one with bumpers, ok, no fenders and special bumpers.” A3 expressed, “A stock car is a car that has bumpers made out of heavy pipe.” E6 said, “Ok, so it has heavy pipe and no fenders, ok, missing fenders and special bumpers.” It was unclear why E18 selected A. One of the 7 participants (A5) used her own notion of a stock car as the criteria for choosing A. She stated, “On a normal car that you see, everything is the same, but a car that is stock has much newer details and is much nicer and even more luxurious than a normal car.”
Ten of the 21 participants (E1, A4, A8, E9, E10, A11, A17, A21, E22, E23) who
provided verbal data selected B. Two participants (A11, A17) verbally eliminated A and did not consider C, but it was unclear from the verbal data why they selected B. Eight participants (E1, A4, A8, E9, E10, A21, E22, E23) accurately deduced that a stock car has fenders and does not have bumpers made of heavy pipe, but missed the importance of the automobile manufacture and dealer’s showroom in Bill’s response. For example, A4 stated, “Logically a stock car must have fenders and not be made from pipe like he said.” E9 expressed, “He said that…if it turns out with no fenders, its got fenders, so (a) stock car is an automobile that has fenders.” E10 said, “I’m gonna go with B since that’s exactly what he said and they’re asking Bill’s notion.” E22 stated, “As he said, it is, was clear that (he) was mentioning or pin-pointing out the bumpers and about that there are no fenders in the car, so it’s B.” These participants engaged in partial or incomplete analysis of Bill’s response. E1, A4, A8, E9, and E23 only verbally considered B. E10, A21, E22 verbally eliminated C as a possible option stating, “That’s not what he meant” E10, “C is not it, definitely not” A21, “No, it’s not C” E22.
Four of the 21 participants (E2, E13, A14, A20) who provided verbal data selected the correct answer C. Two of the 6 participants (E2, E13) used the information from Bill’s response to create a general definition of a stock car. They then used this definition as the basis for
selecting C as the most strongly supported conclusion. For example, E2 stated, “Making heavy steel pipe for a bumper and a fender means that non-standard work has been done on the vehicle, there is no manufacturer that puts that stuff on to the cars as the standard stock configuration, thus C is…the definition.” E13 expressed, “The right (answer) is C…since B and C include specific things missing…but these…are only found in Bill’s case or there might be other things related to the stock car or the non stock car, so the stock is the standard automobile that is sold by the factory to the public.” One participant (A14) expressed her own conception of a stock car as a fancy, fully-equipped, expensive automobile. She stated that none of the choices were accurate, but did not explain why she chose C. One participant (A20) eliminated A and B as incorrect and selected C by the process of elimination. She stated, “A can’t be correct, B also no, so I can only choose C.”
Table 33
Item-level Verbal Data on TAP Question 43
Description of Response Participants
Selected A: Evaluated all three answers as wrong. No criteria for choice
A16, A25 Selected A: Ignored or eliminated C. Missed
that Bill’s description was not a stock car
A3, E6, E19 Selected A: Ignored or eliminated C. Unclear
criteria for choice
E18 Selected A: Used own notion of stock car as
criteria for choice
A5 Selected B: Partial or incomplete analysis of
information
E1, A4, A8, E9, E10, A21, E22, E23 Selected B: Verbally eliminated A, did not
consider C
A17, A11 Selected C*: Created general definition as
criteria for choice
E2, E13 Selected C*: Verbalized own definition. Did
not express criteria for choice
A14
Selected C*: Used process of elimination A20
No meaningful verbal data A7, E12, E15
*Correct answer
Item-level responses on TAP question 44
In question 44, Joan provides one condition that is necessary and sufficient to make a car a stock car, “It has an ordinary engine that hasn’t been changed since it came off the assembly line.” Option A uses information taken from question 43 to define a stock car. The correct answer B reads, “A stock car is an automobile with a standard engine.” Option B includes the genus classification of automobile with the differentia of a standard engine to define stock car. Option C states, “A stock car is where the engine is standard.” C is incorrect because the phrase “is where” fails to give the general category and as a result “the definition does not provide a set of words equivalent in meaning to the term being defined” (R, Ennis, personal communication,
February 2018). Nine of the 24 participants (A4, A5, E6, A7, A8, A14, E15, A16, E23) did not provide meaningful verbal data.
One of the 15 participants (E9) who provided verbal data selected A. She chose A using the process of elimination. She did not accept Joan’s definition of a stock car and assumed that a stock car can have the engine removed and still remain a stock car. As a result, she eliminated B and C because, “They can remove the engine as they want and replace it with another one.”
Eight of the 15 participants (E1, E2, E10, E12, E13, E18, E19, A21) who provided verbal data selected the correct answer B. None of the participants produced verbal data that indicated that they selected B for the reasons articulated in the CCTT answer key. Two of the participants (A4, A5) only considered B and provided no clear criteria for their selection. Two of the
participants (E1, E12) stated that they did not understand the difference between options B and C and did not provide clear criteria for their selection. For example, referring to B and C, E1 stated, “It’s the same.” E12 said, “What’s the difference (between B and C) no one knows.” Two of the participants (E18, E19) verbally eliminated A and provided no clear criteria for their selection. Four of the participants (E2, E10, E13, A21) created criteria for their choice unrelated to either Joan’s statement or the answer. For example, E2 stated, “Joan is also not a mechanic so she doesn’t know anything about cars, a stock car is an automobile with a standard engine, that’s her notion probably, so B.” E10 expressed, “Standard engine I guess, not engine is standard. Engines are standard in all cars so I’m gonna go with B.” E13 said, “For a car to be called a stock car the main thing or…the first factor should be that the engine is standard from the factory and not changed, other parts come later, so the answer is B (although B does not mention the factory or changed parts).” A21 expressed, “I’m confused between B and C. I don’t really understand (the statement) where the engine is standard so I’ll put B.”
Six of the 15 participants (A3, A11, A17, A20, E22, A25) who provided verbal data selected C. Two of the participants (A11, A17) stated no to A and B and then chose C without verbalizing the criteria for their choice. Two of the participants (A3, A25) said that the answer was C because Joan stated that a stock car has a standard engine. For example, A3 said, “It’s C because it has to have a standard engine in it.” 25A stated, “Right, it said it has an ordinary engine so C.” One of the participants (A20) chose C because, “He said this alone makes it a stock car as if this is sufficient.” One of the participants (E22) used criteria that was not included in the answer choice. She said, “It’s the issue of…not changing the engine for a long time…so C.”
Table 34
Item-level Verbal Data on TAP Question 44
Description of Response Participants
Selected A: Used process of elimination E9
Selected B*: Verbalized they did not understand difference between B and C. No criteria for choice
E1, E12
Selected B*: Eliminated A. No criteria for choice
E18, E19
Selected B*: Created unstated criteria E2, E10, E13, A21
Selected C: Eliminated A and B. No criteria for choice
A11, A17 Selected C: Based on statement that a stock car
has a standard engine
A3, A25 Selected C: Based on statement that this alone
makes it a stock car
A20
Selected C: Created unstated criteria E22
Did not provide meaningful data A4*, A5*, E6*, A7, A8, A14, E15*, A16*, E23*