The growing popularity of computer-based activities was widely expected to result in a
decline in television viewing, since it had been assumed that people lack sufficient free
time to maintain current television-viewing levels while spending increasing amounts of
free time on the computer. 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 charge in time spent watching television.
Which of the following would it be most useful to determine in order to evaluate the
argument?
A. Whether a large majority of the survey respondents reported watching television
regularly
B. Whether the amount of time spent watching television is declining among people
who report that they rarely or never use computers
C. Whether the type of television programs a person watches tends to change as the
amount of time spent per week using computers increases
D. Whether a large majority of the computer owners in the survey reported spending
increasing amounts of time per week using computers
E. Whether the survey respondents’ reports of time spent using computers included
time spent using computers at work
decline in television viewing, since it had been assumed that people lack sufficient free
time to maintain current television-viewing levels while spending increasing amounts of
free time on the computer. 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 charge in time spent watching television.
Which of the following would it be most useful to determine in order to evaluate the
argument?
A. Whether a large majority of the survey respondents reported watching television
regularly
B. Whether the amount of time spent watching television is declining among people
who report that they rarely or never use computers
C. Whether the type of television programs a person watches tends to change as the
amount of time spent per week using computers increases
D. Whether a large majority of the computer owners in the survey reported spending
increasing amounts of time per week using computers
E. Whether the survey respondents’ reports of time spent using computers included
time spent using computers at work
