PrepTest 125, Section 2, Question 1
Executive: Our company is proud of its long(44 more words not shown)
The executive's argument is flawed(3 more words not shown)
- Apresents as its(20 more words not shown)
- Brelies on evidence(4 more words not shown)
- Cequivocates on the(2 more words not shown)
- Dbases a generalization(8 more words not shown)
- Epresumes, without providing(12 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What about the people who left?
If a company treats me badly, I might quit and find another job. Then I wouldn't appear in its survey of retirees. The people who stayed until retirement could have had a much better experience than the people who walked out. Asking only the retirees may leave out exactly the stories we need to hear.
And even among retirees, who answered the survey? Imagine someone who disliked working there getting another email from the company. Straight into the trash. Someone with fond memories might be more willing to respond. So we have two possible filters: who stayed and who bothered answering.
Other questions are worth asking too. Could retirees feel pressure to praise a company that still pays their pensions? Could treatment have changed since these people worked there? Those are possibilities to investigate, not facts we're entitled to assume. The clearest problem is that 95 percent describes the respondents, not everyone the company has employed.
What we’re looking for
The flaw question asks us to describe that problem. We can accept the survey result and still doubt the executive's conclusion. A glowing report from this particular group doesn't prove that the company treats its employees fairly.
Working the answers
- A
We don't have to believe the company treats everyone fairly to accept that 95 percent of these respondents praised it. The survey result is separate evidence; the problem is what the executive thinks it proves. A would describe an argument whose supposed support already requires accepting the conclusion.
- B
We don't need to accuse the company of inventing its survey. Let the reported 95 percent be accurate. We still need to ask whether those respondents represent the employees as a whole. That problem remains even if we can verify every response.
- C
To use a word in two different senses, an argument might start with cranes that are birds and reach a conclusion about cranes used in construction. Nothing like that happens with 'fairly.' Both uses concern fair treatment of employees.
- DCorrect
The sample is the retirees who responded. The generalization is that the company treats its employees fairly. People who quit or ignored the survey may have had very different experiences, so this sample may not support that broader conclusion.
- E
The executive never compares old management methods with new ones or claims that the old ones are better. Our concern that past treatment might differ from present treatment doesn't turn the argument into a claim that older methods are superior.
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