Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal Analyzing Conclusions Questions and Answers 3

Question 1

A transport company reports that introducing GPS tracking reduced delivery times by 15%.
Management concludes that GPS tracking caused the improvement.
Which is the most valid criticism of this conclusion?

Accepted Answer

Drivers may have improved performance simply because they knew they were being monitored (Hawthorne effect).

Answer

GPS tracking is too expensive for most companies.

Answer

Delivery times are not an important metric for transport companies.

Answer

A 15% improvement is too small to justify the investment.

Question 2

A school reports that students who read more than 30 books a year score higher on standardized tests. A principal concludes that requiring all students to read 30 books will raise test scores. What is the main flaw?

Accepted Answer

High readers may have other traits (motivation, parental support) that drive both reading and test scores.

Answer

Standardized tests are not reliable measures of academic ability.

Answer

Reading more than 30 books is physically impossible for most students.

Answer

Requiring reading removes the enjoyment, so students will not benefit.

Question 3

A pharmaceutical company states: 'In our clinical trial, patients taking Drug X had a 40% lower rate of symptom recurrence than those taking a placebo.' Their conclusion is that Drug X prevents symptom recurrence. Evaluate this conclusion.

Accepted Answer

The conclusion is well-supported because a randomized placebo-controlled comparison directly tests the drug's effect.

Answer

The conclusion is unsupported because clinical trials are never reliable.

Answer

The conclusion is weak because placebo effects can fully account for any difference.

Answer

The conclusion is invalid unless the drug was tested across multiple countries.

Question 4

An auditor finds that a company's profits increased 25% in the same year it adopted a new accounting software. The CEO concludes the software caused the profit increase. Which alternative explanation most seriously challenges this conclusion?

Accepted Answer

The software may have been adopted because profits were already rising, not as a cause of them.

Answer

Accounting software cannot affect profitability directly.

Answer

Software upgrades always coincide with company expansion.

Answer

The auditor's data may contain rounding errors.

Question 5

A nutritionist concludes that eating fish twice a week prevents heart disease because coastal populations who eat more fish have lower rates of heart disease. What is the weakest link in this reasoning?

Accepted Answer

Coastal populations may differ from inland populations in exercise habits, stress levels, and overall diet.

Answer

Heart disease cannot be studied through population comparisons.

Answer

Fish is not a significant source of omega-3 fatty acids.

Answer

The study needs to include at least 10,000 participants to be valid.

Question 6

An HR consultant concludes that companies with open-plan offices have more innovative employees because such companies file more patents. What question most directly tests whether this conclusion is justified?

Accepted Answer

Do innovative companies choose open-plan offices rather than open-plan offices creating innovation?

Answer

Are open-plan offices more cost-effective than cubicle designs?

Answer

How many patents are filed annually in the tech industry overall?

Answer

Do employees prefer open-plan or closed offices?