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The average age of chief executive

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The average age of chief executive

by SmarpanGamt » Fri Jun 25, 2010 11:10 am
The average age of chief executive officers (CEO's) in a large sample of companies is 57. The average age of CEO's in those same companies 20 years ago was approximately eight years younger. On the basis of those data, it can be concluded that CEO's in general tend to be older now.
Which of the following casts the most doubt on the conclusion drawn above?
(A) The dates when the CEO's assumed their current positions have not been specified.
(B) No information is given concerning the average number of years that CEO's remain in office.
(C) The information is based only on companies that have been operating for at least 20 years.
(D) Only approximate information is given concerning the average age of the CEO's 20 years ago.
(E) Information concerning the exact number of companies in the sample has not been given.


Please explain
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by tpr-becky » Fri Jun 25, 2010 1:29 pm
So this question concludes that CEO's are older than they were 20 years ago becuase they polled companies 20 years apart and found that CEO's are 8 years older.

This argument is based on a statistic - and you notice that they switched from CEO's at "these same companies" to CEO's in general. Thus to weaken this we have to attack the statistic as it applies to CEO's in general.

A) Doesnt' matter when they took office - only matters about their current AGE.
B) Again, doesnn't matter how long they were there - conclusion is about AGE
C. This is the answer - it says you pulled your statistic from the wrong source - you can't conclued about all CEO's from only companies that have been in business for 20 years (younger companies may have younger CEO's)
D) No big deal - approximate info is OK for this type of conclusion
E) Exact number of companies won't change the statistic in any real way becuase it is an average.
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by SmarpanGamt » Tue Jun 29, 2010 10:27 am
tpr-becky wrote:So this question concludes that CEO's are older than they were 20 years ago becuase they polled companies 20 years apart and found that CEO's are 8 years older.

This argument is based on a statistic - and you notice that they switched from CEO's at "these same companies" to CEO's in general. Thus to weaken this we have to attack the statistic as it applies to CEO's in general.

A) Doesnt' matter when they took office - only matters about their current AGE.
B) Again, doesnn't matter how long they were there - conclusion is about AGE
C. This is the answer - it says you pulled your statistic from the wrong source - you can't conclued about all CEO's from only companies that have been in business for 20 years (younger companies may have younger CEO's)
D) No big deal - approximate info is OK for this type of conclusion
E) Exact number of companies won't change the statistic in any real way becuase it is an average.
Thank you Tpr - Becky...Nice Explaination
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