Critical Reasoning Flashcards

A company claims that installing ergonomic chairs reduced employee sick days by 20%. Which of the following, if true, most weakens this conclusion?

Answer: The company also introduced a wellness program at the same time.

An alternative cause (the wellness program) weakens the causal claim that chairs alone reduced sick days.

Study: Cities that ban plastic bags report 15% less plastic litter. Conclusion: banning plastic bags reduces plastic litter. Which assumption underlies this argument?

Answer: The reduction is not due to other concurrent cleanup programs.

The argument assumes the bag ban caused the reduction, not other simultaneous factors — this is the unstated assumption.

A business argues: 'Our customer satisfaction score rose from 70% to 80%, proving our new training program works.' What is the flaw in this reasoning?

Answer: The increase could be due to factors other than the training program.

The argument commits the post hoc fallacy — assuming the training caused the improvement without ruling out other causes.

All A-rated suppliers meet delivery deadlines. Supplier X does not meet delivery deadlines. What can be concluded?

Answer: Supplier X is not an A-rated supplier.

By contrapositive: if a supplier doesn't meet deadlines, it is not A-rated; nothing else can be deduced.

A manager argues against a new policy by saying, 'We've never had a data breach, so we don't need enhanced cybersecurity.' This is an example of which reasoning error?

Answer: Appeal to ignorance

Concluding safety from the absence of past incidents is an appeal to ignorance — past absence of evidence is not evidence of safety.

A survey shows 75% of customers prefer Brand A. The conclusion is that Brand A is the market leader. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen this conclusion?

Answer: The survey sampled 10,000 randomly selected customers nationwide.

A large, random, nationally representative sample increases the validity and generalizability of the survey finding.