Logical Reasoning

PT102 · S3 · Q5 Adults who work outside the home

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Adults who work outside the home spend, on average, 100 minutes less time each week in preparing dinner than adults who do not work outside the home.

Background

Adults who work outside the home spend 100 mins less each week preparing dinner.

Surprising Claim

The meals eaten by adults who work outside vs. inside home don't differ much in terms of nutritional value, variety of menu, or number of courses.

Evaluate

Given that the outside-workers have 100 mins less per week, how are they ending up with meals that are comparable in terms of nutrition, variety, complexity?

- they eat out a couple times more (that accounts for the 100 fewer mins), so the meals they do prep at home are made with a similar amount of time

- outside-workers have more money so they hire personal chefs to help with meals?

- outside-workers happen to have access to other advantages that allow them to cook just as well with less time

Goal

We can never predict the exact storyline, so let's just look for any answer that gives us a way to account for that missing 100 mins and end up with comparable meals eaten at home.

5.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy in the information above?

  1. The fat content of the

    No Impact

    We already were told that the meals eaten are comparable between both groups, so this means that the dinners eaten at home by the outside-workers are also 25 % higher in terms of fat content (since they have similar nutritional value). But this hasn't done anything to clarify why they end up with similar meals, despite different prep time.

    8% picked this

  2. Adults who do not work

    Out of Scope: breakfast

    This paragraph was strictly about how much time was used on dinner vs. the types of dinners eaten. Breakfast is out of scope.

    6% picked this

  3. Adults who work outside the

    Reiterates Paradox

    This really has no impact, since it just reminds us that the outside-worker people have less time to do house stuff, which we already knew. We're wondering how they overcome that deficit and end up with comparable meals.

    15% picked this

  4. Correct

    Adults who work outside the

    Why this is right

    The surprising claim is worded carefully: "the dinners eaten at home don't differ that much". That doesn't mean the number of dinners is comparable. It's more of a conditional thought, that "IF they both eat at home, the dinners are comparable." Let's say that the outside-workers have two dinners out each week. If each of those dinners would have taken about 50 mins to prep, then that accounts for the 100 fewer minutes these people have spent preparing dinner than the home-workers. For all the remaining meals, the outside-workers and home-workers are spending the same amount of time, so we would expect comparable meals.

    Skill tested: Paradox · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    60% picked this

  5. Adults who work outside the

    Deepens Paradox

    Someone with less time for cooking AND less of an advanced plan, is more likely to compromise nutritional value / variety / complexity. This makes us even more surprised that the outside-workers eat comparable dinners to the home-workers.

    11% picked this

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