#25 - Manager: I recommend that our company reconsider the

[NeverMissing]

Hi Powerscore,

I am having alot of trouble with answer choice E because I think it quite glaringly makes an unwarranted assumption not present in the argument. In fact, the unwarranted assumption was so glaring to me that I easily rejected E as soon as I read it, and made a conscious note of the trap laid in answer choice E by this assumption.

The specific language used in E states that many employees in the managers company would "not prefer" the new software package to the old one. The idea that the employees would not prefer the new software is an unwarranted assumption; I cannot see how it can be read any other way.

All we are told from the argument is that many employees in other companies unofficially continue to use the old software even after the new software was introduced. This is not synonymous with them preferring the old software!! Preference denotes a ranking, as in the old software is perceived by the employees as better (for any number of reasons). But there is absolutely no evidence to support such a claim in the argument.

The employees of the other companies could continue to use the old software for so many reasons besides their preference. I could list over one hundred hypothetical reasons why the employees of the other companies use the old software that have absolutely nothing to do with preference.

Let's grant that all the employees absolutely hate the old software. Just absolutely loathe it. They might still continue to use the old software over the new if...

-The company that makes the old software provides the employees generous kickbacks under the table for the employees that continue to use it.
-The old software contains a bunch of necessary data from years past that cannot be easily exported to the new software.
-The old software is linked to a vital companion program, and that link is needed to perform vital functions of the job. The new software cannot be linked to this companion program because the companion program cannot support it.
-The employees have a grudge against their employer, and they want to work as slowly and inefficiently as possible to manifest their grudge. Using the old software helps them achieve this goal.

I could go on, but as you can see, I can easily hypothesize a multitude of reasons why the employees would continue to use the old software WITHOUT preferring it to the new software. Because the argument allows for such hypotheticals, I truly believe that answer choice E is an unwarranted assumption and cannot be strongly supported by the argument.

If I am missing the forest for the trees here, I would love to hear it! Please help me understand this question better, because right now it has me, quite honestly, annoyed and frustrated.

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Never,

A few thoughts here. First, since we know (E) is the correct answer choice, can you make a similar post except that instead of arguing against (E), you argue for (E)? That's actually a key point here, because in order to adopt the test maker's mindset, you have to understand it. I would love to see you flip this around and explain why (E) works

Second, the term "prefer" is a very broad one, and it does not indicate why people prefer one software over another software. Near the end of your post you provided a list of reasons that explain why employees might use the old software despite loathing it. However, my interpretation is that the reasons you cite clearly outweigh their dislike of some aspects of the software, and thus in those cases they still prefer the old software on the whole. Another way of seeing this is that the only reason your hypothetical sounds attractive is because you built in the condition that they already hate the old software, but to me the fact that keep using it says that they have some preference to it. It's like a guy who says he hates his ex-girlfriend but keeps texting her and meeting up with her: yeah, he can say he hates her, but by going out with her and continuing to see her, he automatically shows some preference for her (actions speak louder than words).

Another point of the stimulus that undermines your argument is the very last clause: "...unofficially many continue to use their former software as much as possible." This shows that they don't just use the old software on occasion, or really even unwillingly. Instead, they are trying to use it as much as they can—that's a strong point and easy to skip over. To use my ridiculous girlfriend example, it's not as if they guy just sees her occasionally or after he's been out drinking all night; instead, he's contacting her all the time and trying to see her as much as possible. That sure sounds like a preference to me.

By the way, I don't think it was a mistake that the question stem left things very open-ended ("most strongly supported") and that the answer isn't even all that specific ("Many of...not prefer"). That's much looser and easier to prove than what it could have been: must be true/inference, and "most...do not prefer." They built the problem in such a way that they can defend against objections to the correct answer because the bar has been set pretty low via the language they used.

Please let me know if the above helps. Thanks!

[Kdup]

So for this question. I actually selected answer choice C instead of B or E. I thought that the reason for the switch was that the some of the new software lacks what is present in the older software. But, now looking back is that answer incorrect because we do not know exactly what the new software has and doesn't have. It's similar to comparing the old iPhone software with the new iPhone software. Just because we upgrade the software, it doesn't mean the phone lacks anything. It's just improved. I want to make sure my reasoning is right.

[Jennifer Janowsky]

"I thought that the reason for the switch was that the some of the new software lacks what is present in the older software. But, now looking back is that answer incorrect because we do not know exactly what the new software has and doesn't have. It's similar to comparing the old iPhone software with the new iPhone software. Just because we upgrade the software, it doesn't mean the phone lacks anything. It's just improved. I want to make sure my reasoning is right."

As you said, mostly the issue is just that the stimulus doesn't specifically say why the software is "flexible and easier to use," only that it is. It is not said whether anything is lacking or present in the new software. For that reason, (B) cannot be the answer. So you're on the right track for sure!