Self-study
The radio station claims that its new format is popular with listeners because more than three-quarters of the listeners who call in requests to the station say they are pleased with the format. █████ ████████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████████ ███████ █ █████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ████ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ███ ██████████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
A radio station concludes that its new format is popular because more than three-quarters of listeners who call in requests to the station say they like the format. The author points out that the radio station’s conclusion might not be true. The author’s view is based on an analogy to political candidates. Just as interviewing only people who have decided to vote for a candidate wouldn’t necessarily give you an accurate view of the candidate’s popularity, relying only on the listeners who call in to the radio station might not give an accurate view of the popularity of the new format.
Describe Method of Reasoning
The author relies on an analogy to show that the radio station’s reasoning is flawed.
17.
The argument proceeds by
a
concluding that an █████████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ██ █████ ██ █ ██████ █████████ ██ █ ██████ █████
The author does not say that the radio station’s conclusion is based on a survey conducted by a biased party. The problem is that the opinion of people who call in might not be representative of opinion generally. There is no survey or biased entity that conducted a survey.
b
referring to an █████████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ █████ ██ █████████ ██ █████████ █████████
Refers to an inference that is clearly flawed (that we can determine candidate’s popularity by asking only those who would vote for the candidate) in order to undermine an analogous inference (that we can determine popularity of new format based on opinion of listeners who call in).
c
questioning the legitimacy ██ ██ █████████ ██ █████████ █ ████ ██████████ █████████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ███ ████████
The author does not propose a more reasonable inference that we can draw from the opinion of radio listeners who call in.
d
providing a direct ██████████████ ██ █ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████
The author does not show that the radio station’s conclusion is false. Also, the author does not provide an example of anyone who dislikes the format.
e
claiming that an █████████ █████ ██ █ █████████████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ████████████
The author does not point out that the radio station’s reasoning leads to a contradiction. The author does not point to any logically contradictory elements.