Correctly measuring the productivity

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Correctly measuring the productivity of service workers is complex. Consider, for example, postal workers: they are often said to be more productive if more letters are delivered per postal worker. But is this really true? What if more letters are lost or delayed per worker at the same time that more are delivered?

The objection implied above to the productivity measure decribed is based on doubts about the truth of which of the following statements?

(A) Postal workers are representative of service workers in general.
(B) The delivery of letters is the primary activity of the postal service.
(C) Productivity should be ascribed to categories of workers, not to individuals.
(D) The quality of services rendered can appropriately be ignored in computing productivity.
(E) The number of letters delivered is relevant to measuring the productivity of postal workers.


Can you tell me what does the question stem mean?The word "doubt" seems to look like its a "weaken the argument" question.But not sure on that.Can anyone restate the question?
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by selango » Thu Jun 24, 2010 8:46 pm
Yes.Its a weaken type question?

Which of the following,if true,casts most doubt on the conclusion above?


The question can be rephrased as,

Which of the following statements,if true,casts doubt on the the objection implied above to the productivity measure.

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by abhi84v » Thu Jun 24, 2010 8:53 pm
I reckon this is an assumption question as it relies on something based on the choices. In such a case, if the postal workers are not representative of service workers in general, the conclusiuon falls apart.

So correct answer choice IMO is A.

Please post the OA.

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by albatross86 » Thu Jun 24, 2010 8:55 pm
The argument is that when measuring the productivity of workers, you must consider not only that they for example deliver more letters, but also how many letters they lose or deliver late, at the same time. i.e. there are complex considerations.

The objection implied --> The author is objecting to a measure of simply looking at the total number of letters delivered, without considering other factors.

What is this objection doubting? Or in other words - Which of the following would the arguer be most likely to doubt or disagree with?

A. Well he may agree with this since he actually used them as an example himself.

B. He doesn't doubt this at all.

C. Nowhere is this mentioned. We are talking about the productivity of each individual worker, and not concerned with that of categories of workers.

D. QUALITY of services can be ignored. The arguer says that delays or losses must be considered which is in essence representative of quality. He would therefore support the inclusion of quality as a measure of productivity, and thus would disagree or doubt the truth of this statement.

E. He doesn't doubt this - he says other things need to be considered in addition to this. It may be relevant.

Pick D.

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by jube » Thu Jun 24, 2010 10:42 pm
I'd go with D as well.

What is the OA?

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by koolpaari » Tue May 17, 2011 4:27 pm
OA is D