Self-study
Support An independent computer service company tallied the service requests it receives for individual brands of personal computers. ██ █████ █████ █████ █████████ ██ ████ ███████ ██████ ██████ ███ █████ █████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███████ ██████ █████ █████████ ███ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ████████ ████████ ██████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that ProBit is more reliable computer brand than KRV. This is based on the fact that an independent service company found that, after factoring in each brand’s market share, KRV computers had the largest proportion of service requests, whereas ProBit computers had the smallest proportion of service requests.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that there’s no other explanation for the disparity in service requests other than ProBit’s greater reliability than KRV. This overlooks, for example, the possibility that the kind of person who buys KRV might be less tech-savvy and thus need more tech assistance or more likely to break their computers and seek repair.
12.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ █████████
a
The proportions of ███████ ████████ ███ ███ █████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ████ █████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ███████ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ███ ██████
We only care about the comparison between ProBit and KRV. Other brands’ service requests don’t impact this comparison.
b
For some computer ███████ ███ ███ ███ ███████ ████ ███████ ████████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████████████ ███████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ██ ██ ███████████ ███████ ████████
This provides a potential alternate explanation for the disparity in service requests made to the independent service company. ProBit users might be more likely than KRV users to seek service at the manufacturer’s own service department.
c
The company that ███ ███ █████ ████████ ████ ███████ ████████ ███ ██████ █████ █████████ ████ ████ ███ █████ ███████████ ████████ ███████ ████████
If anything, this might strengthen the argument by showing that the independent service company isn’t just getting an unusually low number of ProBit service requests.
d
The computer brands ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ █████████ █████ ██████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ █████ ██████ ██████
The stimulus said that the tally of service requests was made after “factoring in each brand’s market share.” So differences in market share were already controlled for and don’t affect the statistic in the stimulus.
e
ProBit has been ███████ ████████ █████████ ███ ████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ████
If anything, this might provide a reason to think that ProBit is more reliable.