Q5 - Barr: The National Tea Association

[sranksonly]

I just want to make sure I got the answer right for the right reasoning.

D is right because the survey conducted surveyed an area only thus cannot be used to generalize that tea is no more popular that it ever was.

Is my reasoning correct?

It is amazing that the answers you got right during the PT can still puzzle you during the review.Good or bad not sure

[timmydoeslsat]

Your reasoning is absolutely correct on why D would weaken the argument.

This is a weaken question.

This can be seen as the core of the argument:

Survey Group tracked tea sales for the last 20 years at many stores and there was no change in the amount of tea sold. ----> Therefore, tea is no more popular now than ever before


Choice D is a great weakener. If it is the case that the data was collected from a small region in a country, then the data does not come from a representative sample of the nation. We are dealing with a National Tea Association.

[bbirdwell]

Yep, this is a classic form -- the sample survey argument.

What's a key assumption of an argument based on a survey?
That the survey is good! i.e., representative.

So how can we weaken it? Add evidence that shows the survey was bad.

How can we strengthen it? You got it...

Recognizing common forms is really helpful...

Thanks for the explanation, timmydoeslsat!

[Amontillado]

Yep, this is a classic form -- the sample survey argument.

What's a key assumption of an argument based on a survey?
That the survey is good! i.e., representative.

So how can we weaken it? Add evidence that shows the survey was bad.

How can we strengthen it? You got it...

Recognizing common forms is really helpful...

Thanks for the explanation, timmydoeslsat!

Hi Brian, I know this is an easy question and I got it right. However, while reviewing it, I was wondering if answer D is actually weakening the premise rather than the argument. I have seen many discussions on the forum that we should accept the premise as given rather than attacking it. So how would you explain this in terms of this question? And how do we distinguish this type of questions from others in which premises are accepted?

Thank you so much : )