It is proposed to allow the sale, without prescription, of a medication that physicians currently prescribe to treat the common ear inflammation called “swimmer’s ear.” The principal objection is that most people lack the expertise for proper self-diagnosis and might not seek medical help for more serious conditions in the mistaken belief that they have swimmer’s ear.
Conclusion (thus, clearly)
Most people can diagnose swimmer's ear in themselves without ever having to consult a physician.
Evidence
In a recent study of 1,000 people who suspected they had swimmer's ear, 84 percent made a correct diagnosis, which is slightly better than the accuracy rate of physicians in diagnosing swimmer’s ear.
Evaluate
This argument centers around the assumption that because a high percentage of people correctly diagnosed swimmer's ear in the study, most people are generally capable of diagnosing it correctly.
This is a Sampling move. Since most ppl in the study can diagnose S.E., most ppl can diagnose S.E.
To weaken this, we need to uncover aspects of the study or broader context that would undermine the conclusion that people can diagnose swimmer’s ear without consulting a physician.
Possible avenues for attack include questioning the representativeness of the study sample, the circumstances under which people achieved high diagnostic accuracy, or whether previous exposure to physician training could have influenced the results.
Goal
Let's find an answer that suggests a reason why the study’s results don’t apply broadly to most people or reveal a missing factor that questions the generalizability of the self-diagnosis ability reflected in the study.