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62) The following appeared in a memo from the director of a large group of hospitals. In a laboratory study of liquid antibacterial hand soaps, a concentrated solution of UltraClean produced a 40 percent greater reduction in the bacteria population than did the liquid hand soaps currently used in our hospitals. During a subsequent test of UltraClean at our hospital in Workby, that hospital reported significantly fewer cases of patient infection than did any of the other hospitals in our group. Therefore, to prevent serious patient infections, we should supply UltraClean at all hand-washing stations throughout our hospital system. 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.
The argument of the director from the memosuggested that they should equip all their hospital's stations with UltraCleanto get keep away serious infections. This recommendation, however, isessentially dependent on several assumptions, and if these assumptions areproved groundless, the director's recommendation and its later implementationwill probably be rootless. First of all, one assumption has been madethat the bacteria population decreased in the laboratory study is considerablylarge enough. Failing to inform us exact numbers of the two groups of bacteriacompared in the study, the memo only infers "a 40 percent greater reduction".If we overlook this assumption, say, the group that apply the former type ofliquid hand soaps just has too few bacteria to be noticed, we can hardly assertthat UltraClean has a greater effectiveness of antibacterial and thus the wholereasoning will be in vain. Moreover, the assumption that the hospitalin Workby has the representitiveness to stand for other hospitals is taken bythe director. The hospital in Workby was reported to have a fewer cases ofpatient infection than the average after the use of UltraClean, but furtherinformation is not available. If this hospital is located in a region which hastypically a low rate of infection for a long time, the validity of theUltraClean to reduce patient infection can be unwarranted. Even assuming that UltraClean is moreantibacterial effective and the regional differences can be omitted, moreassumptions are clearly needed to conclude the final arugment. Anotherimportant assumption perceived by the director is that bacteria is responsiblefor the infection. The memo does present some facts about the bacteria andinfections, it can not be verified that the bacteria is the casual factor toinfections. Maybe the infection is caused by virus or other unhealthy factors,then the antibacterial UltraClean will do nothing with the infection and thereis no need to make the change in hand soaps. To sum up, those assumptions mentionedabove are vital to conclusion. Should the assumptions been strongly corroboratedby the director of the group, his argument will surely become more cogent andconvincing. |
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