Critical Reasoning Flashcards

A university dean claims that the new mentorship program is responsible for a 25% increase in student retention rates. However, during the same period, the university also increased financial aid by 40% and hired 15 additional academic counselors. What is the main weakness in the dean's claim?

Answer: Multiple concurrent changes make it impossible to isolate the mentorship program's specific contribution

When multiple interventions occur simultaneously, attributing the outcome to just one factor is logically unsound.

Premise 1: Every student who completes the honors thesis receives a distinction on their diploma. Premise 2: Some students who receive a distinction also win department awards. Premise 3: No student who wins a department award graduates with debt. Which of the following can be validly concluded?

Answer: Some students who receive a distinction graduate without debt

From Premise 2, some distinction recipients win department awards. From Premise 3, those award winners have no debt. Therefore, some distinction recipients graduate without debt.

A pharmaceutical company argues their new drug should be approved because 70% of patients in the trial showed improvement. A critic notes that 65% of patients receiving a placebo also improved. What does the critic's observation most effectively demonstrate?

Answer: The drug's actual therapeutic effect may be minimal compared to placebo response

A 70% improvement rate compared to 65% for placebo means the drug's actual benefit over placebo is only about 5 percentage points.

An advertisement claims: 'Nine out of ten dentists recommend our toothpaste.' Which question would be most important to ask before accepting this claim?

Answer: How were the dentists selected and what exact question were they asked?

The methodology behind the statistic is crucial. If dentists were asked a generic question or only favorable respondents were included, the claim is misleading.

A government official argues: 'We must either invest heavily in nuclear energy or face an energy crisis within 20 years. Since an energy crisis would be catastrophic, we must invest in nuclear energy.' What logical flaw is present?

Answer: False dilemma -- other energy solutions exist beyond the two options presented

The argument presents only two options when many alternatives exist, including solar, wind, hydroelectric, and other renewable energy sources.

Research shows that employees who take regular breaks are 20% more productive than those who don't. A manager concludes that mandating breaks will increase department productivity by 20%. What assumption does the manager make that may not be warranted?

Answer: That the employees studied are comparable to their department and that forced breaks will produce the same effect as voluntary ones

The manager assumes the research population matches their department and that mandated breaks have the same effect as voluntary ones.