Self-study
Advertisement: Support In a carefully controlled study, blindfolded volunteers were divided evenly into five groups. ████ █████████ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ██ ████ █████████ ██████ ████ █████ ███████ █ █████████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ████ █████████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ███████ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ████ ███████ █ ████ █████████ ████████ ████ █████████ ████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ███████
Summarize Argument
In a study, volunteers were evenly divided into five groups. Each group tasted Sparkle Cola and one of five competing colas, with each group tasting a different one of the competing colas. Most people in the study said they preferred Sparkle compared to the other cola they tasted. The author concludes from this that Sparkle got a more favorable response from people in the study than any of the competing colas tested.
Identify and Describe Flaw
We know most consumers picked Sparkle as tasting better. But this doesn’t mean for every competing cola, most picked Sparkle. For example, perhaps one cola was picked by everyone who tasted it, but the other 4 competing colas lost out to Sparkle. The claim that “most” consumers preferred Sparkle applies to the overall study, not each individual matchup between Sparkle and a competing cola.
15.
The reasoning in the advertisement ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████████
a
It overlooks the ███████████ ████ █ ██████████████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ██████████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ███████
“Most” of the volunteers preferred Sparkle is a generalization true of the entire group of volunteers. But it’s not necessarily true of each of the five smaller groups. So one of the groups might have preferred their competing cola over Sparkle.
b
It takes for ███████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████ ███ ███████ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ██ ███ █████ █████ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ██████████ █████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██████████
The conclusion only concerns whether Sparkle elicited a more favorable response during the taste tests in the study. The conclusion doesn’t concern whether people would buy Sparkle.
c
It overlooks the ███████████ ████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ████ ████████ █ ████ █████████ ████████ ████ ███████ █████
The conclusion only concerns the comparison between Sparkle and “the competing colas tested.” It doesn’t assert anything about colas that were not tested in the study.
d
It overlooks the ███████████ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████ ███████ ████ ██ █████████ █████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ █████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████
The argument only concerns the response of Sparkle Cola vs. the competing colas based on the taste tests in the study. Whether people might prefer Sparkle for reasons besides taste was not part of the study and isn’t part of the conclusion.
e
It is based ██ █ █████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ██████████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ████ ██████
The conclusion is concerned only with colas. So the fact the study didn’t investigate non-colas is irrelevant.