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UPSC CSAT Tough Reading Comprehension 3 — The Limits of Measurement in Public Policy

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Sample Questions from UPSC CSAT Tough Reading Comprehension 3 — The Limits of Measurement in Public Policy

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

A. Quantitative indicators should be abandoned because they inevitably encourage institutions to manipulate data.

B. Public institutions can be evaluated accurately if governments develop sufficiently sophisticated indicators.

C. Quantitative indicators are useful for public policy, but they are incomplete representations that should inform rather than replace judgment.

D. Qualitative evidence is inherently more reliable than quantitative evidence in evaluating public institutions.

Q2. According to the passage, why can making an indicator a target create problems?

A. Institutions may begin improving measured performance without necessarily improving the underlying objective.

B. Institutions inevitably begin falsifying their official records.

C. Citizens generally stop trusting all quantitative information.

D. Governments lose the ability to compare different institutions.

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

A. All social outcomes can ultimately be expressed numerically.

B. The objectives pursued by public institutions are often more complex than the indicators used to evaluate them.

C. Public officials usually attempt to manipulate performance statistics.

D. Citizens are unable to understand sophisticated statistical indicators.

Q4. With reference to the passage, consider the following statements: 1. An improvement in a performance indicator necessarily demonstrates an equivalent improvement in the underlying objective. 2. Strategic responses to performance indicators do not always require deliberate dishonesty. 3. Introducing additional indicators can itself generate new problems. 4. Public policy should avoid quantitative evidence whenever qualitative evidence is available. Which of the statements given above are consistent with the passage?

A. 1 and 2 only

B. 2 and 3 only

C. 1, 3 and 4 only

D. 2, 3 and 4 only

Q5. A government rewards police districts primarily according to reductions in recorded crime. Subsequently, some districts discourage citizens from formally registering minor offences. Which one of the following interpretations is most consistent with the reasoning of the passage?

A. The fall in recorded crime proves that public safety has improved.

B. Crime statistics are entirely useless for evaluating public safety.

C. Using recorded crime as a target may create incentives to improve the indicator without producing a corresponding improvement in public safety.

D. Police performance should be evaluated exclusively through public opinion surveys.

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