Examkin

Question

Difficulty: MediumRhetorical Synthesis: Introduction and Definition

A student is taking notes on psephology for a research project:

* Psephology is a specialized field of political science.
* It is defined as the quantitative analysis of elections and voting behavior.
* The term was coined in 1952 by British academic David Butler.
* Practitioners of this field analyze polling data and demographic trends to predict election outcomes.

The student wants to provide a definition of psephology to an audience unfamiliar with the term. Which choice uses information from the given notes to accomplish this goal?

  1. A
    First coined in 1952 by British academic David Butler, the term psephology refers to a specialized field of political science.
  2. Psephology is a field of political science defined as the quantitative analysis of elections and voting behavior.Answer
  3. C
    Psephologists analyze polling data and demographic trends to predict election outcomes.
  4. D
    In 1952, David Butler defined political science as the study of election outcomes and polling data.

Answer

Psephology is a field of political science defined as the quantitative analysis of elections and voting behavior.
The correct choice successfully provides a definition of psephology by combining the fact that it is a field of political science with its core definition: the quantitative analysis of elections and voting behavior. This allows an audience unfamiliar with the term to understand exactly what it means.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the goal of the prompt.
The student needs to select a choice that provides a definition of 'psephology' for an audience unfamiliar with the term.
Understanding the specific rhetorical goal allows the exclusion of sentences that focus on irrelevant details like the origin of the word or the tools used by practitioners.
2
Locate the defining characteristics of psephology from the notes.
The notes state that psephology is a specialized field of political science and is defined as the quantitative analysis of elections and voting behavior.
These details constitute the core definition of the term.
3
Evaluate the choices to find the one that matches this definition.
The option stating that psephology is a field of political science defined as the quantitative analysis of elections and voting behavior is the only choice that directly defines the term.
Other choices focus on the coining of the term, describe the actions of psephologists, or mischaracterize the relationship between David Butler and political science.

Key Concept

Synthesizing notes to define a technical term or concept.
Estimated Time:1m 0s
Rate this question

Topics

Rhetorical Synthesis: Introduction and Definition

More questions from this topic