In a Recent Telephone Survey of Over 6,000 Americans GMAT Reading Comprehension

Reading Passage Question

In a recent telephone survey of over 6,000 Americans, the Pew Internet & American Life Project has concluded that African Americans' usage of internet technology lags behind that of whites. Survey respondents who identified as African Americans trailed whites by seven percentage points in use of the internet; 87% of whites and 80% of blacks are internet users. Moreover, 74% of white respondents had broadband internet access in their home, whereas 62% of black respondents had such access.

Although the Pew survey appears to draw on a representative slice of Americans using careful survey methods, its results may suffer from having answered an inherently misleading question. The survey found, for example, that black and white internet usage and access is identical once other variables are controlled. Namely, 86% of African Americans respondents aged 18-29 were home broadband adopters, as were 88% of African Americans college graduates and 91% of blacks with an annual household income of $75,000 or more per year. These figures were not only well above the national average for broadband adoption, but, more to the point, they were identical to whites of similar ages, incomes, and education levels. It follows that internet adoption has nothing to do with race per se and everything to do with some or all of the factors age, educational attainment, and household income. If internet adoption correlates primarily with household income, as other studies of technology would suggest, then the survey in question does little more than lead us back to the fact that African Americans have a lower average household income than white Americans--a fact which has already been established. Nevertheless, the Pew study is a confirmation and a reminder of the fact that the current income difference between whites and blacks in America is having an impact on African Americans' access to technology and to the benefits that accrue from efficient access to the internet.

‘In a recent telephone survey of over 6,000 Americans’ is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 7 comprehension questions.

The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analysing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Questions and Solutions

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

1. reinterpret the findings of a research study
2. refute the findings of a field of research
3. report new research findings
4. evaluate the methodology of a study
5. reconcile some conflicting research results

2. According to the passage, the Pew study is flawed in that it

1. presents as an issue of race what is truly an issue of income
2. was conducted by telephone and surveyed only a slice of Americans
3. failed to control for certain variables
4. failed to explore deeply enough the psychological motivations of individuals to adopt or not adopt the internet
5. studied not only internet usage but also race and income

3. According to the passage, which of the following questions did the authors of the study fail to consider correctly?

1. Whether to emphasize Americans' rates of access to the internet or the benefits that accrue from that access
2. Whether the current income difference between whites and blacks in America is having an impact on blacks' access to the internet
3. How to collect relevant information simultaneously about internet use, race, and income
4. Whether to present the findings in terms of race or in terms of income
5. Whether their findings had already been established in similar surveys

4. The author implies that the study's findings

1. are misleading in virtually every respect
2. sound in methodology, but based on flawed data
3. based on sound data, but summarized in a misleading fashion
4. misleading in the omission of how the survey data were collected and analyzed
5. biased by the researchers' personal beliefs about race

5. The passage implies that, among the set of variables discussed, the single factor best explaining different rates of broadband internet adoption is most likely

1. race
2. educational attainment
3. household income
4. a composite variable of age, educational attainment, and household income
5. any single factor other than race

6. The author would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements?

1. It is better to present accurately summarized findings based on somewhat flawed data than poorly summarized findings based on accurate data.
2. It is better to present research findings that repeat an already well-established point than to present more novel but potentially misleading results.
3. It is better to present conservative research findings than controversial findings, even if the controversial findings are thought-provoking.
4. It is better not to conduct a survey in the first place than to collect survey data and present the findings of that survey in a misleading fashion.
5. It is better to conduct a survey that measures fewer variables, so that those variables can be controlled for more accurately.

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