Critical Reasoning

The growing popularity of computer-based activities was widely predicted to result in a corresponding decline in television viewing. Recent studies have found that, in the United States, people who own computers watch, on average, significantly less television than people who do not own computers. In itself, however, this finding does very little to show that computer use tends to reduce television viewing time, since ________.
Which of the following most logically completes the argument?

a) many people who watch little or no television do not own a computer.

b) even though most computer owners in the United States watch significantly less television than the national average, some computer owners watch far more television than the national average.

c) computer owners in the United States predominantly belong to demographic groups that have long been known to spend less time watching television than the population as a whole does

d) many computer owners in the United States have enough leisure time that spending significant amounts of time on the computer still leaves ample time for watching television.

e) many people use their computers primarily for tasks such as correspondence that can be done more rapidly on the computer, and doing so leaves more leisure time for watching television

OA: C
source:gprep

IMO C

question says-->>

Computer responsible for less Tv Watching.....

Then arguments says no not responsible..

we need to strengthens that claim...

Tv watching has no relation with computers....that only C states..

How is OA [spoiler][C][/spoiler]?

kanha81 wrote:How is OA [spoiler][C][/spoiler]?

Can you please tell which other answer do u think is close contender to C ?

IMO there is only one option that sounds logical here...is C....

scoobydooby wrote:The growing popularity of computer-based activities was widely predicted to result in a corresponding decline in television viewing. Recent studies have found that, in the United States, people who own computers watch, on average, significantly less television than people who do not own computers. In itself, however, this finding does very little to show that computer use tends to reduce television viewing time, since ________.
Which of the following most logically completes the argument?

a) many people who watch little or no television do not own a computer.

b) even though most computer owners in the United States watch significantly less television than the national average, some computer owners watch far more television than the national average.

c) computer owners in the United States predominantly belong to demographic groups that have long been known to spend less time watching television than the population as a whole does

d) many computer owners in the United States have enough leisure time that spending significant amounts of time on the computer still leaves ample time for watching television.

e) many people use their computers primarily for tasks such as correspondence that can be done more rapidly on the computer, and doing so leaves more leisure time for watching television

OA: C
source:gprep

The trick in this question is figuring out what what the conclusion actually says and what the a 'paraphrase' of that conclusion says or implies. The conclusin focuses on OWNING COMPUTER and the implication of that conclusion or its paraphrase focuses on USING COMPUTER.

The correct answer will focus on OWNING COMPUTER

C.

since the computer owners were already watching less TV.

so its not A (popularity of computer act)->B (less TV wathcing), rather

C(Computer owners always watched less TV.) -B

this gives us a reason for the surprising survey result.

C for sure.
They didn't like to watch TV even before they own/use computers.
The reason that they do not watch TV much is because of their habit, not because they use computers.

C for sure.
The reason for not watching TV much is because of their hobby (they do not like to watch TV), not because they use computer.

IMO here D and E are supporting the claim that computer usage is leading to less TV watching....

Can some one please confirm....or if there is some other reason to kick out D and E then please tell...surely C is best...but I want to learn the problems with D and E wrt to the argument reasoning.....

goelmohit2002 wrote:IMO here D and E are supporting the claim that computer usage is leading to less TV watching....

Can some one please confirm....or if there is some other reason to kick out D and E then please tell...surely C is best...but I want to learn the problems with D and E wrt to the argument reasoning.....

This is a pretty tough one to figure out and that's because some people might miss what the paragraph is all about.

The reason why D and E are wrong answers is because the argument IS NOT about TV vs. computers, it's about the fact that the recent study "in itself" is not sufficient to explain a certain phenomenon. D and E both center on TV and computers and are therefore out of scope (as much as I hate that phrase that's so often used by Kaplan), i.e. they "miss the point" of the argument. Only C deals with the study/finding itself so only C is correct.

DanaJ wrote:

goelmohit2002 wrote:IMO here D and E are supporting the claim that computer usage is leading to less TV watching....

Can some one please confirm....or if there is some other reason to kick out D and E then please tell...surely C is best...but I want to learn the problems with D and E wrt to the argument reasoning.....

This is a pretty tough one to figure out and that's because some people might miss what the paragraph is all about.

The reason why D and E are wrong answers is because the argument IS NOT about TV vs. computers, it's about the fact that the recent study "in itself" is not sufficient to explain a certain phenomenon. D and E both center on TV and computers and are therefore out of scope (as much as I hate that phrase that's so often used by Kaplan), i.e. they "miss the point" of the argument. Only C deals with the study/finding itself so only C is correct.

Thanks Danaj,

Can you please tell does D and E mean to say the spare time they are spending in watching TV or not ?

From the sentences it does not become clear(atleast to me)...whether they are spending the free time in watching the television or not....

D and E just says that they have time.....but does say that what they do in that time....

Kindly tell whether I am interpreting correctly or not ?

You are right. The usage of computers either does not affect the time you could spend on TV (as in D) or actually helps increase it. Don't forget: we have "could" there, so we can't be sure.

DanaJ wrote:You are right. The usage of computers either does not affect the time you could spend on TV (as in D) or actually helps increase it. Don't forget: we have "could" there, so we can't be sure.

Many thanks DanaJ for the clarification !!

Can you please look at the following thread...the problem there is exact replica of the question at hand.....can you please help clear the doubt over there.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/computer-bas ... tml#183541

One reason why D and E are wrong is- They are going against the premise stated in the stimulus. The premise in the stimulus say- people who own computer watch, on average, significantly less television than people who do not own computers. We cannot neglect this fact. So D and E are wrong.

Answer choice C states that Computer owners also have the habit of watching less television. So it is not a trend that because of this the overall trend of decline in television viewer-ship cannot happen.