SAT Question 5d20f560: Inferences answer and explanation

Choice C is the best answer because it presents the conclusion that most logically follows from the text’s discussion of how participants considered messages from former trial volunteers and doctors. The text first establishes that information coming from credentialed experts typically increases the credibility of that information. However, the text goes on to describe a situation that goes against this expectation: the messages from previous trial volunteers were judged as more credible than the messages from licensed doctors when recruiting clinic trial participants. The text then goes on to speculate as to why this may have been the case, stating that participants likely considered the messages from the former trial volunteers to be more convincing than the messages from the doctors because the former trial volunteers were perceived as having undergone the same experience that the participants were considering. It is reasonable to infer, then, that participants regarded the former trial volunteers’ direct experience as more important to their decision-making than the doctors’ status as credentialed experts.