Self-study
Researcher: Each subject in this experiment owns one car, and was asked to estimate what proportion of all automobiles registered in the nation are the same make as the subject's car. ███ ████████ ██ ██████ █████ ███████ ███ ████ █████████████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ████████ █████████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ████ █████████ ████ █ ███████████ ████ ███████ █████ ██ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ████████ ██████████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ███ ██████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ██ ███████████ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ████ ███████████ ██ ███████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ███████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The researcher concludes that certain makes of car are more common in different regions of the nation. Why? Because the researcher hypothesized that if that conclusion was true, then many people would overestimate the national commonness of their own cars—and this was the very result found by a study, thus supporting the hypothesis.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The researcher concludes that a hypothesis is true based on evidence that supports that hypothesis. However, the hypothesis could still be false, because support for a hypothesis doesn’t guarantee that it’s true. The researcher doesn’t account for the possibility of alternative explanations for the result, for example.
23.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ █ █████████ ████ ██ ███ ████████████ █████████
a
The argument fails ██ ████████ ███ ██████████ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ ███ ████ ███ ██████ ██████████ █████ ███ ██████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ██ ███████████
The likelihood that most of the study participants were unaware of the actual commonness of their make of car is irrelevant to the argument. The argument is about whether different cars are more common in different regions, not about people’s car stats knowledge.
b
The argument treats █ ██████ ████ ████████ █ ██████████ ██ █ ██████ ████ ██████ █ ███████████
The researcher concludes that a hypothesis is true merely based on a premise that supports the hypothesis. This is a flaw because a hypothesis can have some support and still be false, for example if the same evidence is consistent with multiple explanations.
c
The argument fails ██ ████ ████ ███████ ███ ███████████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ████ █ ████ ███████ ██ ████████████ ████████
Whether or not the subject pool comes from a variety of regions isn’t relevant, because the argument’s evidence just depends on most participants overestimating how common their car is.
d
The argument attempts ██ ████ ███ ████ ██████████ ████ █ ███ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██████████████
The researcher does not use any premises that contradict each other in this argument.
e
The argument applies █ ███████████ ██████████████ ██ █ ██████████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ██████
The argument doesn’t apply a generalization to a particular case. It’s more that the researcher is trying to make a generalization about car distribution across the nation based on a different generalization about how common people think their make of car is.