Medical doctor: Sleep deprivation is

Answer choices

1. A

   Weakens6% picked this

   The primary cause of sleep deprivation

   This plan doesn't affect the total amount someone works. It only affects how they schedule their hours. So if anything, this answer tells us that our Plan is not targeting the most significant source of the sleep deprivation problem.

   6%
2. B

   Correct84% picked this

   Employees would get more sleep if they had greater latitude in scheduling

   Why this is right

   This very lovably spells out the idea that the Plan (give people more flexibility / latitude in scheduling) would achieve the Goal (lessen the amount of sleep deprivation).

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

   84%
3. C

   No Impact1% picked this

   Individuals vary widely in the amount of sleep

   This is a classic form of a trap answer on Strengthen / Weaken: - things fluctuate - differences exist - things are not identical Yeah, we know. You're saying nothing. Sleep deprivation to one person might mean "anything less than 8 hours" whereas to another person it might mean "anything less than 5 hours". This variety among humans doesn't increase our opinion that more flexible scheduling will help all those different types of sleepers get more sleep than they do without flexible scheduling.

   1%
4. D

   Weakens, if anything1% picked this

   More people would suffer from sleep deprivation today than did in the past if the average number of hours worked

   The plan to allow people flexibility in when they schedule their work hours doesn't affect the total number of hours someone works. So this answer's discussion of "number of hours" increasing / decreasing is irrelevant to the Plan we're analyzing. But if anything, this answer is suggesting that number of hours is a causal determinant of sleep deprivation, and so it makes it seem like the author's final recommendation should really be about decreasing work hours, not just rescheduling when they occur.

   1%
5. E

   Unclear Impact8% picked this

   The extent of one’s sleep deprivation is proportional to the length

   Just like (A) and (D), this answer is talking about the total number of hours worked in a day. The Plan under consideration doesn't purport to change the number of hours any employee works, just to give that employee more freedom in choosing when those hours happen. It's also not clear how to apply this answer to different types of schedules. If we work 40 hours a week no matter what, then how do five 8 hours days compare to four 10 hour days? The length of the 10 hr workdays was 125% the length of the 8 hr workdays, so the extent of sleep deprivation would be 125% worse .... but only for four days. There would be an extra day (the 5th day, which the 10 hr person no longer has to work) in which the workday is 0 so there's no sleep deprivation. How do we compute 4 days with 25% extra sleep deprivation and 1 day with zero sleep deprivation? Is that more or less sleep deprivation than when we worked five 8 hours days? We have no idea. What if we only worked 5.5 hrs a day, but 7 days a week? How do we compute whether our sleep deprivation got better or worse than with the old five 8 hr day plan?

   8%