Logical Reasoning

PT112 · S3 · Q7 Medical doctor: Sleep deprivation is

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Medical doctor: Sleep deprivation is the cause of many social ills, ranging from irritability to potentially dangerous instances of impaired decision making.

Conclusion (Therefore)

We should restructure the workday to allow people flexibility in scheduling their work hours.

Evidence

Sleep deprivation causes many social ill. Most people today suffer from sleep deprivation to some degree.

Evaluate

This conclusion is making a Plan / Recommendation. We want to think about the Goal of this Plan and then skeptically review whether this plan would achieve the goal.

The goal is to lessen the problems caused by sleep deprivation; to make there be less sleep deprivation.

We should ask ourselves about this Plan to allow people more scheduling flexibility with work ...

- Is is feasible? Can we actually give employees scheduling flexibility or will we end up short-staffed at critical junctures if a bunch of people are choosing not to work at the same time.

- Are there incentives for cooperation? Do people want more sleep? Would they be motivated to tinker with their work schedules so that they could get more sleep?

- Could it backfire? Could giving people more scheduling flexibility lead to them figuring out ways to work a 3-day week of 13-hour days, followed by a 4-day weekend in Vegas, thus increasing their sleep deprivation.

- Does it address a significant source of the problem? Is there any evidence that sleep deprivation is related to a lack of scheduling flexibility?

Goal

Look for an answer that addresses one of those questions above or that otherwise makes us feel better about the idea of giving people more scheduling freedom in the hopes that they'll be able to get more sleep as a result.

7.

Which one of the following, if true, would most strengthen the medical doctor's argument?

  1. The primary cause of sleep

    Weakens

    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% picked this

  2. Correct

    Employees would get more sleep

    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% picked this

  3. Individuals vary widely in the

    No Impact

    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% picked this

  4. More people would suffer from

    Weakens, if anything

    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% picked this

  5. The extent of one’s sleep

    Unclear Impact

    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% picked this

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