CCTST Problem Solving 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A logical argument proceeds: 'All previous product launches exceeded budget. Therefore, this launch will exceed budget.' The weakness in this reasoning is:
- It is based on past evidence, which is always irrelevant
- It commits an ad hominem fallacy
- It overgeneralizes from past cases without considering changed circumstances (Correct answer)
- It uses deductive reasoning correctly
Correct answer: It overgeneralizes from past cases without considering changed circumstances
Inductive generalizations from past cases can fail if circumstances have materially changed, making the inference potentially unreliable.
Question 2: A policy analyst wants to evaluate whether a new tax policy reduced poverty. The most rigorous approach is to:
- Survey people who benefited from the policy
- Compare poverty rates before and after, controlling for other economic changes (Correct answer)
- Accept the government's published success rate
- Count media articles praising the policy
Correct answer: Compare poverty rates before and after, controlling for other economic changes
Controlled before-and-after comparisons isolate the policy's effect from other variables, providing stronger causal evidence.
Question 3: Which of the following best illustrates 'satisficing' in problem solving?
- Selecting the option that maximizes every criterion simultaneously
- Choosing the first option that meets a minimum acceptable threshold (Correct answer)
- Deferring the decision indefinitely
- Randomly selecting among equally rated options
Correct answer: Choosing the first option that meets a minimum acceptable threshold
Satisficing, a concept from decision theory, involves selecting the first sufficiently good option rather than exhaustively searching for the optimal one.
Question 4: A team is stuck on a problem and keeps proposing the same types of solutions. The most effective critical thinking intervention is to:
- Increase the time pressure to force faster decisions
- Invite someone with a different domain background to offer a fresh perspective (Correct answer)
- Eliminate the weakest team members
- Repeat the same brainstorming session with greater intensity
Correct answer: Invite someone with a different domain background to offer a fresh perspective
Cognitive diversity and outside perspectives break groupthink and introduce novel problem frames that a homogeneous group may miss.
Question 5: The 'five whys' technique is most useful for:
- Generating a large number of solution options
- Drilling down to the root cause of a problem by iteratively asking why (Correct answer)
- Assessing the risk of each proposed solution
- Prioritizing among competing goals
Correct answer: Drilling down to the root cause of a problem by iteratively asking why
The five whys iteratively asks 'why' to move past surface symptoms and uncover the fundamental cause of a problem.
Question 6: A proposed solution to rising employee turnover is a 10% pay raise. A critical thinker should first ask:
- How much will this cost the company?
- Is low pay actually the primary reason employees are leaving? (Correct answer)
- Which employees should receive the raise first?
- How soon can the raise be implemented?
Correct answer: Is low pay actually the primary reason employees are leaving?
Before committing to a solution, a critical thinker verifies that the solution addresses the actual cause, not an assumed one.
Question 7: When comparing two solutions, Solution A solves the problem completely but takes six months, while Solution B partially solves the problem in two weeks. The right choice depends primarily on:
- Which solution was proposed first
- The urgency of the problem and acceptability of a partial fix (Correct answer)
- The cost of Solution A alone
- The personal preference of the decision maker
Correct answer: The urgency of the problem and acceptability of a partial fix
Trade-offs between completeness and speed must be evaluated relative to contextual factors such as urgency and risk tolerance.
CCTST Problem Solving 4
A logical argument proceeds: 'All previous product launches exceeded budget.
Therefore, this launch will exceed budget.' The weakness in this reasoning is: