Critical Reasoning

ditorial: In order to preserve the health of its local economy, Metropolis should
not permit a CostMart warehouse department store to open within city limits.
It has been demonstrated that when CostMart opens a warehouse department
store within a city, the bankruptcy rate of local retailers increases in that city by
twenty percent over the next several years.

Which of the following questions would be most useful for evaluating the conclusion
of the Editorial?

(A) Does the bankruptcy rate of local retailers in a city generally stabilize several
years after a CostMart warehouse department store opens?

(B) Do most residents of Metropolis currently do almost all of their shopping at
stores within the city limits of Metropolis?

(C) Have other cities that have permitted CostMart warehouse department
stores within city limits experienced any economic benefits as a result?

(D) Is the bankruptcy rate for local retailers in Metropolis higher than in the average
city that has permitted a CostMart warehouse department store within
city limits?

(E) Does CostMart plan to hire employees exclusively from within Metropolis for
the proposed warehouse department store?

C

A) Knowing whether the damage only goes so far is irrelevant. The question is whether or not there is damage.

B) Tempting because this could somehow be connected to the degree of damage a CostMart would do to Metropolis businesses, but it's not clearly connected.

C) This could be it. Bankruptcy of some businesses could be offset by economic gains. So even though those specific businesses would be damaged, the overall economy of Metropolis could be ok.

D) It's not clear how the answer to this would provide any information that helps in determining how the presence of a CostMart would affect the Metropolis economy.

E) This is tempting and maybe the answer would be somehow useful in assessing the economic damage of a CostMart.

B is very weakly and unclearly connected to the question. So it's between C and maybe E. E seems vaguely connected to the question and the answer might, along with some other information such as details of CostMart's hiring practices in other cities, be somehow useful in making a determination of overall economic damage. At the same time the answer to C would be more clearly useful, because it basically directly answers the question.

Choose C.

Method of Reasoning questions focus on how an argument is attempted, contradicted, or put forth. We can tell we need to focus on the Method of Reasoning because of the word "evaluating" in the question-stem. More specifically, this is an "Evaluate the Plan" question. Since we'll be "evaluating" the conclusion here, we want to pay close attention to what the author uses to support his conclusion.

Question Rephrase: What is MOST USEFUL to evaluate the Conclusion?

It's almost asking, which question would be a potential DEALBREAKER for the Conclusion.

So let's analyze the argument:

Conclusion: no CM within city to preserve (+) econ

Evidence: when CM opens within cities, 20% increase in bankruptcy rate

There's a lot of assumptions here:

1) what holds true for other cities holds true for M
2) increase B-rate means a less healthy economy
3) CM outside the city couldn't inflict same damage

I can't think of any other obvious ones, and obviously 3) seems the strongest.

For our prediction, I'd recommend turning these assumptions into questions:

-is what's true for other cities true for M?
-does more bankrupcy = less healthy economy?
-if CM opens outside the city, could it still damage economy?

Let's eliminate answer choices that don't line up with these types of questions.

A - even if it does, it could still hurt M - remove
B - slightly related to CM opening outside the city, but doesn't address economy damage - remove
C - this is a perfect rephrase for the 1st assumption - keep
D - the comparative rates don't matter, we don't even know if bankrupcy necessarily means a less healthy economy - remove
E - whether they do or don't, this doesn't address whether the overall economy will be less healthy - remove

The only answer choice that even remotely matches our prediction is C.

Remember: CR is NOT creative writing time, especially on method of reasoning questions. Be very wary of answer choices such as E which seem to involve the topics from the passage, but do NOT deal directly with the conclusion (that the economy is less healthy because of the store opening).

Hope this helps! Remember our strategy for these will always be to:

1) recognize the CR Q-type and what your job is,
2) thoroughly analyze and break down the argument on your scratch pad, and
3) come up with at least 1 solid prediction for the correct answer
4) THEN look at the answer choices, eliminating those that are too far from your prediction

Good luck!

Editorial: In order to preserve the health of its local economy, Metropolis should not permit a Costmart warehouse department store to open within city limits. It has been demonstrated that when Costmart opens a warehouse department store within a city, the bankruptcy rate of local retailers increases in that city by twenty percent over the next several years.

Which of the following questions would be most useful for evaluating the conclusion of the editorial?

a. Does the bankruptcy rate of local retailers in a city generally stabilize several years after a Costmart warehouse department store opens?

b. Do most residents of Metropolis currently do almost all of their shopping at stores within the city limits of Metropolis?

c. Have other cities that have permitted Costmart warehouse department stores within city limits experienced any economic benefits as a result?

d. Is the bankruptcy rate of local retailers in Metropolis higher than in the average city that has permitted a costmart warehouse department store within city limits?

e. Does Costmart plan to hire employees exclusively from within Metropolis for the proposed warehouse department store?

This passage links COSTMART and LOCAL RETAILERS to the ENTIRE LOCAL ECONOMY.
The assumption is that there are NO OTHER FACTORS that affect the local economy.
It's possible that the opening of a Costmart causes OTHER LOCAL BUSINESSES -- restaurants, parking lots, etc. -- to THRIVE, thereby IMPROVING the local economy.

EVALUATE CRs often provide answer choices phrased as QUESTIONS.
Rephrase such answer choices as STATEMENTS.
Rephrased as a statement, the correct answer choice will either STRENGTHEN or WEAKEN the conclusion.

Answer choice C, rephrased as a statement: Other cities that have permitted Costmart warehouse department stores within city limits have experienced economic benefits as a result.
If this statement is true, then the conclusion that Costmart hurts the local economy is clearly WEAKENED.

The correct answer is C.