Critical Reasoning

The growing popularity of computer based activities was widely expected to result in a decline in TV viewing since it had been assumed that people lack sufficient time to maintain current viewing levels while spending increasing amount of free time on computers .That assumption however, is evidently false: in a recent mail survey concerning media use a very large majority of respondents who report increasing time spent per week using computers report no change in time spent watching tv.
In order to evaluate the argument, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?
a) Whether the survey collected info about money of respondents on free time media use.
b) Whether the amount of time spent watching TV is declining among people who report that they rarely use or never use computer.
c) Whether the type of programs a person watches tends to change the amount of time spent per week using comp increases
d) Whether a large majority of computer owners in the survey reported increasing spending amounts time per week using computers
e) Whether the survey respondent's reports time spent using comp included time spent suing computers at work.

golu23 wrote:The growing popularity of computer based activities was widely expected to result in a decline in TV viewing since it had been assumed that people lack sufficient time to maintain current viewing levels while spending increasing amount of free time on computers .That assumption however, is evidently false: in a recent mail survey concerning media use a very large majority of respondents who report increasing time spent per week using computers report no change in time spent watching tv.
In order to evaluate the argument, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?
a) Whether the survey collected info about money of respondents on free time media use.
b) Whether the amount of time spent watching TV is declining among people who report that they rarely use or never use computer.
c) Whether the type of programs a person watches tends to change the amount of time spent per week using comp increases
d) Whether a large majority of computer owners in the survey reported increasing spending amounts time per week using computers
e) Whether the survey respondent's reports time spent using comp included time spent suing computers at work.

To EVALUATE the argument means to determine whether the conclusion is valid.

This CR exhibits a SCOPE SHIFT.
The survey is about the viewing habits of respondents who report increasing TIME spent per week using computers.
The conclusion is about viewing levels while spending increasing amounts of FREE TIME on computers.

To determine whether the conclusion here is valid, we need to know whether the increasing TIME spent by the respondents in the survey is FREE TIME.

Answer choice E: It would be useful to know whether the survey respondents' reports of time spent using computers included time spent using computers AT WORK.
Yes. If the computers are used AT WORK, then the conclusion about using computers during FREE TIME is invalidated.

The correct answer is E.