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Statistician

by gmatv09 » Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:51 am
Statistician: A financial magazine claimed that its
survey of its subscribers showed that North
Americans are more concerned about their
personal finances than about politics. One
question was: "Which do you think about
more: politics or the joy of earning money?"
This question is clearly biased. Also, the readers
of the magazine are a self-selecting sample.
Thus, there is reason to be skeptical about the
conclusion drawn in the magazine's survey.
Each of the following, if true, would strengthen the
statistician's argument EXCEPT:

(A) The credibility of the magazine has been called
into question on a number of occasions.
(B) The conclusions drawn in most magazine
surveys have eventually been disproved.
(C) Other surveys suggest that North Americans are
just as concerned about politics as they are
about finances.
(D) There is reason to be skeptical about the results
of surveys that are biased and unrepresentative.
(E) Other surveys suggest that North Americans are
concerned not only with politics and finances, but also with social issues.

OA after discussion
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by sj19876 » Tue Sep 22, 2009 12:36 pm
E.... social issues are not relevant to the argument, and the fact that other surveys include social issues do not strengthen the argument.
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by gmatv09 » Tue Sep 22, 2009 2:39 pm
OA E
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by gmatmachoman » Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:09 pm
Yeah E sounds logical!!
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by GID09 » Wed Sep 23, 2009 7:27 am
Why not C?
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by sreak1089 » Wed Sep 23, 2009 8:58 am
I also thought C might be right, but a closer look reveals that E is the right answer. We are looking for answer choice that does not strengthen author's argument.

Answer choice C says that other survey suggest that North Americans are just as concerned about politics as they are about finances. Thus, based on this survey, there is a reason to be skeptical about the magazine's conclusion. Thus, answer choice C provides evidence to strengthen author's argument.

Answer choice E does not provide information about politcs vs finances. Thus, it does NOT strengthen author's argument.

Also, important thing to note is that, some thing that does NOT strengthen an argument need NOT necessarily weaken an argument.
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by kris77 » Sun May 15, 2016 4:12 pm
Cannot decide between A and E. Can anyone brake down these two choices for me please
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