Self-study
In a medical study of all of the residents of Groverhill, Support 35 people reported consulting their physician last year seeking relief from severe headaches. █████ ████ ███████████ ████████ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ █████████████ ████████ ████ ████ ████ ██████████ ████████ ███████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██████████ ██████████ █████ ████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███ ████ █████████ ███ ███ ████████ █████ ███
Summarize Argument
The author claims that more than 35 people must have visited a doctor for headache treatment last year because there were 105 appointments of that kind in the same time period.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The argument is flawed because it assumes that the number of people who reported having a consultation should be expected to match the number of consultations that took place. However, it’s possible that some of the patients visited a doctor more than once, which would explain why there were more consultations than there were people who reported having one.
9.
The reasoning in the argument ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ████████
a
generalizes inappropriately from ██ ████████████████ ██████ ██ █████████ ██ ██████████
The argument cites a study of “all of the residents of Groverhill”, so it isn’t drawing on an unrepresentative sample.
b
fails to consider ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████████ █████ ██████████ ███ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████
More consultations occurring elsewhere would make the apparent discrepancy even larger. The flaw is failing to consider that this gap could be naturally explained by some patients visiting the doctor more than once.
c
overlooks the possibility ████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ███████ █████ ██████████ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ███ ███ ████ █████████
If any patients got more than one consultation, then the number of consultations would naturally be larger than the number of distinct patients. (C) points out a possibility that shows the argument's conclusion doesn't follow from its premises.
d
fails to provide ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████████ ████ ██ █████████ ████ ██████████ ██ ██████ █████████
The author never claims that Groverhill residents have a higher rate of severe headaches, so there’s no need to provide evidence for it.
e
takes for granted ████ █████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███ ███████ ████ ██████ █████████ █████ ███████ █ █████████ █████ ████ █████████
Whether or not there are people who won’t consult a doctor is irrelevant. The argument only makes a claim about patients who did consult a doctor.