Argument 14虐吧

小小游儿

Argument 14

The following appeared as part of an article in a business magazine.

"A recent study rating 300 male and female Mentian advertising executives according to the average number of hours they sleep per night showed an association between the amount of sleep the executives need and the success of their firms. Of the advertising firms studied, those whose executives reported needing no more than 6 hours of sleep per night had higher profit margins and faster growth. These results suggest that if a business wants to prosper, it should hire only people who need less than 6 hours of sleep per night."

Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted

写作:

In this argument, the author suggests that if a business wants to prosper, it should hire only people who need less than 6 hours of sleep per night. To justify this conclusion, the author cites a recent study that rating 300 male and female Mentian advertising executives according to the average number of hours they sleep per night showed an association between the amount of sleep the executives need and the success of their firms. To reason the conclusion, the author also states that those whose executives reported needing no more than 6 hours of sleep per night had higher profit margins and faster growth. The argument suffers from several critical fallacies.



The major problem with this argument is that from the study quoted in the argument, however, we find no sign of such procedure for random sampling, and have good reason to doubt if the sample is representative enough to reflect the general executives. The author provides no evidence that the selection of 300 people is strictly sampling investigation and the rating of male and female is scientific and reasonable according to the fact of proportion of male and female in the business. Moreover, comprehensive evidences are necessary to identify the study is not affected by the relevant industry and other business whose profit relating to study. Without more specific evidence, the study in this argument is invalid and probably misleading.



Another flaw that weakens this argument is that it does not naturally warrant the conclusion that executives reported needing no more than 6 hours of sleep per night has significantly contributed, and thus is causal to higher profit margins and faster growth. The author fails to consider and rule out other possibilities that impel higher profit margins and faster growth. Perhaps this business area enjoy a prospering, so that executives must sacrifice their sleeping hours and work overtime to complete their task. It is the blossom that contributes the higher profit margins and faster growth of company rather than executives. Even if this possibility can be ignored, it is entirely possible that high profit company support advanced and strict management, consequently executives have to compress their sleeping time and work overtime. It is advanced and strict management that stimulate high profit company to higher profit and faster growth. To better evaluate the argument, the author would have to prove that the profit of the business will increase if executives sleep no more than 6 hours per night. That sounds ridiculous. In addition, the author overemphasizes the importance of executives, however, neglects the significance of team spirit in determining the profit of a company. Thus, without better evidence, the argument is unconvincing.



Finally, The single sample of the advertising firms’ study is insufficient to draw any general conclusion about a business should hire only people who need less than 6 hours of sleep per night if it wants to prosper. Without additional samples from diverse business, I cannot accept the author’s sweeping generalization.



To sum up, the author’s argument mentioned above is not based on valid evidence or sound reasoning, neither of which is dispensable for a conclusive argument. In order to draw a better conclusion, the author should reason more convincingly, cite some evidence that is more persuasive, and take every possible consideration into account.

刚刚点错了一个主题,成了每周三拍了,对不起大家,重发在求拍区

竹林中人

关于这个题，我觉得质疑点有三，一是300个的样本够不够的问题，而是，睡眠不足六个小时是不是成功的唯一原因，如果是这样，那是不是只要一个人睡不足六个小时就可以成功了呢，显然不能，三是即使在一个领域是这样的，是不是其他的领域也是这样呢。感觉LZ写之前还没有想好文章的结构和内容安排，第二段很长，看着难受，然后第三段收的太快，可以适当展开些的