People Who Browse the Web for Medical Information Often Cannot Discriminate Between Scientifically Valid Information and Quackery.

Question: People who browse the web for medical information often cannot discriminate between scientifically valid information and quackery. Much of the quackery is particularly appealing to readers with no medical background because it is usually written more clearly than scientific papers. Thus, people who rely on the web when attempting to diagnose their medical conditions are likely to do themselves more harm than good.

Which one of the following is an assumption the argument requires?

1. People who browse the web for medical information typically do so in an attempt to diagnose their medical conditions.
2. People who attempt to diagnose their medical conditions are likely to do themselves more harm than good unless they rely exclusively on scientifically valid information.
3. People who have sufficient medical knowledge to discriminate between scientifically valid information and quackery will do themselves no harm if they rely on the web when attempting to diagnose their medical conditions.
4. Many people who browse the web assume that information is not scientifically valid unless it is clearly written.
5. People attempting to diagnose their medical conditions will do themselves more harm than good only if they rely on quackery instead of scientifically valid information.

“People Who Browse the Web for Medical Information Often Cannot Discriminate Between Scientifically Valid Information and Quackery.” - this is a GMAT Critical question. This particular GMAT Critical Reasoning topic has been taken from the book ‘501 GMAT Questions’. In this particular topic, candidates need to choose the option that best suits the passage. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. Critical reasoning in GMAT requires candidates to find the strengths and weaknesses of the argument, or find the logical flaw in the argument.  The GMAT CR section contains 10 -13 GMAT critical reasoning questions out of 36 GMAT verbal questions.

Answer: B
Solution and Explanation: Question type: Necessary Assumption
Conclusion: Most people who rely on the web or search websites to diagnose their medical conditions are likely to do themselves more harm than good. They should always take advice of medical experts.
Reasoning: People who look for medical diagnose on the web usually are unable to tell what is scientific and what is quackery. A lot of the nonsense is attractive because it is more clearly written than scientific papers which are false.
Analysis: The argument assumes that people will hurt themselves if they rely on such a web. But this doesn’t always have to be the case. Maybe the quackery is harmless or sometimes beneficial.

To solve these types of questions, we will follow the negation method. 

Option A: This isn’t necessary. It’s only necessary that when they do try to diagnose themselves, they hurt themselves more often than not.
Negation: In most cases, people browsing the web for medical information aren’t trying to diagnose themselves. This is not an assumption. Hence, this is not correct.

Option B: People who attempt to diagnose their medical conditions are likely to do themselves more harm than good unless they rely exclusively on scientifically valid information.
Negation: People will harm themselves in most cases if they follow the web until and unless they rely on valid information provided by experts. This information should be valid scientifically. This is the assumption that the argument requires.

Option C: This statement is not necessary. The argument would actually be slightly strengthened if some of these people hurt themselves too.

Option D: This would be helpful to the argument because it would mean that people might assume that quackery is scientific. But it doesn’t need to be true.
Negation: There are few people who assume information is not scientifically valid unless it is clearly written. Since this is not an assumption the argument requires, it is not correct. 

Option E: This isn’t necessary. The argument is fine if some people manage to harm themselves despite looking only at the scientific literature.
Negation: This states that some people who try attempting to diagnose themselves may hurt themselves even if they only use scientific literature. Hence, this is not correct.

 The only option which supports the argument is option B. Hence, B is the correct answer.

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