Self-study
Conclusion A recent study confirms that nutritious breakfasts make workers more productive. ███ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ █████ █ ████████ ████ ██████████ ██████████ █████ ███ ██████ █████ █████ ███████ ██ █████ █ ███ ████ ███ ████████████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ██████████ █████ ████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ███ ████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that nutritious breakfasts makes workers more productive. This is based on a study in which workers at one plant received free nutritious breakfasts every day before work, and workers at another plant did not get free nutritious breakfasts every day before work. After one month, the productivity of the first plant’s workers increased, while that of the second plant’s workers did not.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that nutritious breakfasts caused the increased productivity in th first plant. The author also assumes that workers in the second plant did not eat nutritious breakfasts. (This overlooks the possibility that, even though they didn’t get free nutritious breakfasts, they still could have eaten breakfasts on their own.)
22.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ █████████
a
Few workers in █████ █ ████████ ██████████ ██████████ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ██████
This strengthens by helping to establish that the second plants’s workers generally did not eat nutritious breakfasts during the study. If this were not true, then both groups would have had nutritious breakfasts and there would have been no control group.
Plausibility
Plausibility
Presenting evidence that corroborates (in Strengthen) or conflicts (in Weaken) with the author's hypothesized explanation or the predictions that follow from that explanation.
b
Workers in the █████ ████ █████ █ ███ █████ █ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████
It’s not clear that having the same start time strengthens the argument, becaue having different start times would not necessarily weaken the argument.
c
During the month ██████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ █████ █ ███ █████ █ ████ ███████ ███████████
The study observed that Plant A’s productivity increased, and Plant B’s productivity didn’t increase. Starting productivity point doesn’t matter, because we’re only comparing increase vs. no increase. We’re not comparing one’s plant’s productivity to another’s.
d
Workers from Plant █ ████ █████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██████ ███ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ █████ ██
Plant A’s productivity increased, while Plant B’s did not. We’re not comparing one plant’s productivity to the other’s; we’re just comparing the presence of an increase to the lack of an increase. So, comparative vacation days don’t affect the argument.
e
Workers in Plant █ ████ ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ████ ███████ ████ █████ ██
The study observed that Plant A’s productivity increased, and Plant B’s productivity didn’t increase. We’re not comparing one plant’s productivity to another’s.