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UPSC CSAT Tough Reading Comprehension 8 — Why More Data Does Not Always Mean Better Decisions

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Sample Questions from UPSC CSAT Tough Reading Comprehension 8 — Why More Data Does Not Always Mean Better Decisions

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Q1. Which one of the following best expresses the central argument of the passage?

A. Increasing the quantity of data inevitably reduces uncertainty because larger datasets represent reality more accurately.

B. Data-driven decision-making is fundamentally unreliable because datasets are shaped by human choices.

C. Data can improve decisions, but its usefulness depends on understanding how it was generated, what it omits, and how decisions based on it may alter future observations.

D. Human judgment should generally replace algorithmic analysis whenever important social decisions are involved.

Q2. Why does the author describe a dataset as a 'structured representation of selected aspects of reality'?

A. Because datasets necessarily contain inaccurate observations.

B. Because collecting data requires choices about what to measure, how to classify observations, whom to include and over what period to collect information.

C. Because numerical information cannot represent any aspect of social reality accurately.

D. Because researchers deliberately exclude information that contradicts their expectations.

Q3. Which one of the following assumptions is most essential to the author's argument?

A. All datasets contain substantial measurement errors.

B. Important aspects of a phenomenon may exist outside the variables included in a dataset.

C. Algorithms are generally less reliable than experienced human decision-makers.

D. Large datasets are primarily collected for commercial purposes.

Q4. With reference to the passage, consider the following statements: 1. A very large number of observations is sufficient to establish that an observed relationship is causal. 2. Greater statistical precision does not necessarily produce greater certainty about the meaning of a relationship. 3. Decisions based on data can sometimes influence the future data used to evaluate those decisions. 4. The author considers intuition inherently superior to systematic evidence. Which of the statements given above are consistent with the passage?

A. 1 and 2 only

B. 2 and 3 only

C. 1, 2 and 3 only

D. 2, 3 and 4 only

Q5. What is the principal purpose of the example involving increased police patrols in neighbourhoods identified as having a higher probability of crime?

A. To demonstrate that predictive policing always increases crime.

B. To show that crime statistics are generally unsuitable for public policy.

C. To illustrate how a data-driven decision can influence subsequent observations and thereby reinforce the pattern on which the original decision was based.

D. To establish that algorithms deliberately discriminate against particular neighbourhoods.

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