Self-study
News item: The result of a recent public survey has been called into question because one of the pollsters admitted to falsifying data. ███ ██████ ██████████ █████████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ █████████ ████ █████ ██ ███████████ █████████████ ███████ █████████ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ █ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ██████████ ██ ███████████ █████████████
Summarize Argument
The news item argues that the conclusion of the recent public survey, that a majority of people in the country favor investing more in information technologies, isn’t true because falsified data were included in the survey.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The news item reasons that since falsified data were included in the recent public interest survey, the survey is untrue, and we can conclude that a majority doesn’t actually favor more investment in information technologies. However, the news item’s argument is vulnerable to the criticism that just because falsified data were included in the survey, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the survey’s conclusion is untrue.
While the survey may include falsified data, It’s still possible that a majority of the people in the country favor investing more money in information technologies.
6.
The news item's argument is ██████████ ██ █████████ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████████ ████
a
the conclusion of ███ ██████ █████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ████████
This is a key possibility that the news item doesn’t consider. Regardless of the falsified data being included in the survey, it’s still possible that the majority of people in the country favor more investment in information technologies.
b
the conclusion of ███ ██████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██████ █████████ ████ ████ ████
Whether or not the conclusion of the survey will be accepted by the public is irrelevant. We’re only concerned with whether the news item’s conclusion is sound.
c
other pollsters in █████ ███████ ████ ███ ████ █████████ ████
The actions of pollsters in other surveys have no bearing on whether the recent public survey’s conclusion is true.
d
some people who █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ █████
We don’t know if the news item failed to consider this, but even if it didn’t, this isn’t a possible reason that the news item’s conclusion, that a majority of people in the country don’t favor more investment in information technologies, is flawed.
e
people's opinions about █████████ ██ ███████████ ████████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████████████ ███████
It doesn’t matter whether people’s opinions can change. We’re concerned with the news item’s argument about the current public opinion on investment in information technologies.