#6- Letter to the editor: Your newspaper’s advertisement

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Flaw in the Reasoning. The correct answer choice is (C).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[lunsandy]

Hi Powerscore,

Upon reviewing, I see why C is the correct answer (shift in meaning/ language) because it goes from assuming that high school's most popular sports (most popular sports for the students in the school) to the most popular sports being played by the players.

However, I initially chose B) because I thought 15% and 5% were too small of a sample. Would this be correct if it weren't for the more obvious flaw- shift in meaning?

Thanks a lot!

[Adam Tyson]

Not at all, lunsandy! The sample size is actually perfect - the author apparently looked at the entire student population and presented what we must assume are mathematically accurate figures. It's not like he did a survey where he asked 5% of the student body what sport they liked best and then concluded that that was the most popular sport. THAT might be a problem with small or unrepresentative sample (maybe he only asked basketball players, or fans in the bleachers at a basketball game?)

When the author gives you a figure that is a percentage of something, that figure isn't too small - it's just what it is. If 5% of the students play basketball, then 5% of the students play basketball. That isn't too big or too small, it's just right! The problem would be if we drew conclusions about the entire student body based solely on what that 5% of students thought or felt or did.

In short, telling us what the figures were will not give us a sample size problem. Relying on data about a small group to make claims about a much larger one will.

[lunsandy]

Thanks for the clear explanation Adam! I get it now

[AM4747]

Hello,

I am having some difficulties in understanding why C is correct. Where is the misinterpretation? Is the misinterpreted word "popular"? In other words, does the flaw refer to the fact that the author took popularity to mean the number of people actually engaging in that sport?

Thanks
All best

[Adam Tyson]

Exactly right, AM4747! The author thought "popular" meant the one played by most students, when it could easily have meant the one with the biggest fan base or highest attendance at games/matches, etc., or just the one that most of the paper's readers want to hear about. Nice job!

[smtq123]

Hi,

Can you please clarify what D means? It is very confusing to me!

Thanks for your support.

[Robert Carroll]

smtq,

Answer choice (D) describes circular reasoning! "The contention it purports to show" means "The proposition it's trying to prove", which would be the conclusion. So that answer is basically saying "Uses the conclusion as a premise", which is a paradigm example of circular reasoning.

Robert Carroll