#14 - City dog licensing records show that more cocker

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanations

Evaluate the Argument. The correct answer choice is (E)

There are more cocker spaniels registered to addresses in one particular neighborhood (Flynn
Heights) than to those in all other neighborhoods combined. Based on this piece of information, the
author concludes that any stray cocker spaniel caught near that neighborhood is likely to belong to
someone living in Flynn Heights:

Premise: More cocker spaniels are registered to Flynn Heights owners than to all other
neighborhoods combined.

Conclusion: Thus, if animal control finds such a dog near Flynn Heights, the dog is likely
to belong to someone who lives in that neighborhood.

The question that follows asks for the answer choice that will be most useful to an evaluation of the
author’s argument.

Answer choice (A): The stimulus’ argument is limited to stray cocker spaniels that are found by
animal control officers near Flynn Heights, so the number of other breeds of strays would not be
relevant to an evaluation of the argument.

Answer choice (B): Other breeds of dog are not relevant to the author’s argument, which is only
about stray cocker spaniels that are found in the area, so this cannot be the right answer to this
Evaluate the Argument question.

Answer choice (C): The other areas of the city are not relevant to the author’s conclusion, which is
limited to stray cocker spaniels found in the area of Flynn Heights, so this choice would not assist in
evaluating the argument presented in the stimulus.

Answer choice (D): The stimulus is only about stray cocker spaniels that are found near the
neighborhood of Flynn Heights; information about general pet ownership per capita would not be
helpful in evaluating the likelihood that a stray cocker spaniel belongs to a Flynn Heights resident.

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. In order to determine whether the author’s
conclusion, that stray cocker spaniels found in Flynn Heights likely belong to Flynn Heights
residents, it would be valuable to know how likely Flynn Height residents are (relative to their
neighbors) to license their dogs: In addition to the licensed dogs, how many unlicensed dogs are
there and where are they coming from? If, for example, residents of the surrounding neighborhoods
have a lot of unlicensed dogs, that would decrease the chances that any stray found in the area
belongs to someone from Flynn Heights.

[15veries]

Hi,

I was not sure between D and E...
I thought D is correct because it says "per capita" which means there are more dogs in FH, so the likelihood of what discussed in the conclusion is supported if it is greater, and weaken if it is smaller.
Why is D wrong?
I eliminated E because I thought in the stimulus it says "City dog licensing records show that...are registered..." so I thought it's just repetition...

[Emily Haney-Caron]

Hi 15veries,

The stimulus tells us there are actually more by number, so it doesn't matter what the per capita pet rate is. Totally irrelevant on this one.

For E, it is correct because it could be that dogs are licensed in Flynn Heights but there are more of them elsewhere, just unlicensed. So a stray cocker spaniel could be more likely to be from another area, but the other area just mostly has unlicensed dogs; it doesn't tell us whether the stray was licensed.