- Tue Sep 21, 2021 4:02 pm
#90623
Complete Question Explanation
Weaken. The correct answer choice is (D).
In this stimulus, the author begins by making an observation about productivity growth in industrialized nations as computer technology has become more widespread. Not only has productivity growth in industrialized nations dropped substantially since computer technology became widespread in the 60s and 70s, productivity growth dropped the most in industries that rely most heavily on computer technology. Thus, the author concludes, a business that has increased its reliance on computer technology probably hasn't improved its productivity growth by doing so.
While this argument perhaps appears solid at first, we are being asked to weaken this argument, so we should look for any possible shaky points in the author's reasoning. I found it interesting that the author jumped from industries as a whole to a specific business within that industry; perhaps the overlap is not as airtight as we thought?
With weaken questions, we should always focus on the conclusion, which in this stimulus is the last sentence. If we logically negate it, we get: a business that has increased its reliance on computer technology probably HAS improved its productivity growth by doing so. So, we should look for an answer choice that defends this idea. Perhaps we can exploit a possible correlation-causation flaw: maybe the businesses that are most reliant on computer technology are the most successful in increasing their productivity, and the businesses that are slow to become dependent on technology are responsible for weighing down the industry average.
Answer choice (A): This strengthens the argument by explaining why a dependence on computer technology has hindered the productivity growth of industries: it makes them extremely inefficient. Skip.
Answer choice (B): Interesting to know, I guess, but why? Was it because of a dependence on computer technology? This answer doesn't say. In addition, we're only concerned with industrialized nations in this argument, and this does nothing to defend our prephrase. Skip.
Answer choice (C): This answer may seem attractive, but its scope is too limited to be helpful. Even if some industries saw a substantial increase in productivity as computer technology became more widespread, we're talking about industries as a whole, and more specifically, what we can say about a specific business because of industries as a whole.
Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. Yes! Not only does this answer choice have sufficient scope by discussing all industries, it makes clear that the specific businesses that invested most heavily in computer technology saw the greatest increase in productivity growth. It's only the businesses that were slow to rely on computer technology that saw their productivity drop.
Answer choice (E): Good, but of course, not guaranteed, and we're talking about businesses now, not later. Does a reliance on computer technology make them less productive, or not?
Weaken. The correct answer choice is (D).
In this stimulus, the author begins by making an observation about productivity growth in industrialized nations as computer technology has become more widespread. Not only has productivity growth in industrialized nations dropped substantially since computer technology became widespread in the 60s and 70s, productivity growth dropped the most in industries that rely most heavily on computer technology. Thus, the author concludes, a business that has increased its reliance on computer technology probably hasn't improved its productivity growth by doing so.
While this argument perhaps appears solid at first, we are being asked to weaken this argument, so we should look for any possible shaky points in the author's reasoning. I found it interesting that the author jumped from industries as a whole to a specific business within that industry; perhaps the overlap is not as airtight as we thought?
With weaken questions, we should always focus on the conclusion, which in this stimulus is the last sentence. If we logically negate it, we get: a business that has increased its reliance on computer technology probably HAS improved its productivity growth by doing so. So, we should look for an answer choice that defends this idea. Perhaps we can exploit a possible correlation-causation flaw: maybe the businesses that are most reliant on computer technology are the most successful in increasing their productivity, and the businesses that are slow to become dependent on technology are responsible for weighing down the industry average.
Answer choice (A): This strengthens the argument by explaining why a dependence on computer technology has hindered the productivity growth of industries: it makes them extremely inefficient. Skip.
Answer choice (B): Interesting to know, I guess, but why? Was it because of a dependence on computer technology? This answer doesn't say. In addition, we're only concerned with industrialized nations in this argument, and this does nothing to defend our prephrase. Skip.
Answer choice (C): This answer may seem attractive, but its scope is too limited to be helpful. Even if some industries saw a substantial increase in productivity as computer technology became more widespread, we're talking about industries as a whole, and more specifically, what we can say about a specific business because of industries as a whole.
Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. Yes! Not only does this answer choice have sufficient scope by discussing all industries, it makes clear that the specific businesses that invested most heavily in computer technology saw the greatest increase in productivity growth. It's only the businesses that were slow to rely on computer technology that saw their productivity drop.
Answer choice (E): Good, but of course, not guaranteed, and we're talking about businesses now, not later. Does a reliance on computer technology make them less productive, or not?