A recent magazine article argued

Answer choices

1. A

   Bad Evidence Match8% picked this

   concludes that something is worth its cost merely on the grounds that many businesses

   When an answer choice on Flaw is structured like, concludes that X merely on the grounds that Y infers X from the claim that Y we can ask ourselves, "does X match the conclusion / does Y match the evidence?" Is our conclusion saying that "something is worth its cost"? Yes, more or less. The conclusion is saying most companies wouldn't be wasting their money if they purchased videoconferencing equipment, which essentially means "it would be worth the cost". Is the only piece of evidence ("merely") the claim that "many businesses have purchased it"? No. The evidence is a survey of businesses that have purchased it, and the fact that most of them vouched for the value of the equipment is the main premise. This answer choice is accusing the argument of being as simple as, "Since many people bought the new selfie stick, that selfie stick must be worth the cost."

   8%
2. B

   Not Necessary vs. Sufficient11% picked this

   takes a condition sufficient to justify purchasing costly equipment to be necessary in order for the cost of

   This answer choices invokes the #1 most famous Necessary vs. Sufficient flaw, in which the author presents a conditional relationship in the evidence and then applies that relationship in a backwards or opposite fashion to reach her conclusion. There's no conditional logic anywhere in this paragraph, so it's a non-starter.

   11%
3. C

   Trap5% picked this

   rejects a position merely on the grounds that an inadequate argument has been

   Not Unproven vs. Proven False Bad Evidence Match This answer choices describes the famous Unproven vs. Proven False flaw, in which the author says that "since they failed to prove that X is true, X must be false". This argument does indeed reject a position in its concusion. But is the evidence saying, "here's the argument made in favor of the position. Check out its flaws / inadequacy." Instead, the evidence is saying, "Hey, I've got some survey results here (some new counterevidence of my own) that seems to argue against their position."

   5%
4. D

   Correct61% picked this

   relies on a sample that it is reasonable to suppose is unrepresentative of the group about which

   Why this is right

   This calls out the Sampling flaw. The argument definitely relies on a sample (the recent survey of businesses that have purchased videoconferencing equipment). Why is it reasonable to suppose that people who have already purchased videoconferencing equipment are unrepresentative of most companies? It's the idea of a self-selecting sample. If we asked people who bought an iPhone rather than a Samsung, "do you think you chose well?", we're naturally going to get a majority of people saying Yes. But that's because we're talking to people who thought about the tradeoffs between the two phones and decided that for them it made more sense to go with the iPhone. That doesn't mean that for other people the same would apply. Maybe a cleaner example would be to ask people who graduated from dental school whether they are happy with their decision. If 85% of them say yes, would we conclude, "Oh, then most people would be happy to go through dental school"? Of course not. Most of us don't want to be dentists, but the ones who do go to dental school and are by and large pleased with their choice. Similarly, most businesses don't need videoconferencing equipment (I'm looking at you, Plumbers), but the minority of businesses who do will buy it and find it worth the cost. If you want to try a somewhat similar problem, try this one.

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

   61%
5. E

   Doesn't Confuse15% picked this

   confuses the cost of an item with its value to

   The evidence is talking about whether not something is "worth the cost", and the conclusion is about whether or not most businesses would be "wasting their money". In both cases, those expression convey an awareness of the balance between cost and value. When value meets or exceeds cost, it's worth it / it's not a waste.

   15%