#14 - Editorial: A recent survey shows that 77 percent of

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Flaw in the Reasoning. The correct answer choice is (D)

This editorial’s conclusion is based on the results of a recent survey, in which the majority of people
“feel that crime is increasing,” and the majority of people believe that sentences should be tougher.
The author concludes that “the government should firmly address the rising crime rate.”

The problem is that the author quickly jumps to the conclusion that the survey results accurately
represent reality. Just because most people feel that crime is increasing, does that mean that it really
is?

The question stem asks for the flaw in the author’s reasoning, which is the author’s acceptance of
survey opinions as fact.

Answer choice (A): Although the percentages are not exactly the same for the two specific results
presented, this is not an inconsistency, because there is no reason to presume a perfect correlation.
In other words, there is no inconsistency in feeling that crime is increasing without believing
that sentences should be tougher, and there is nothing inherently inconsistent about believing that
sentences should be tougher without necessarily believing the crime is increasing.

Answer choice (B): There is no such presumption. The author presents survey results about
the perceived crime rate increase and the perceived need for tougher sentences, but there is no
correlation suggested.

Answer choice (C): This is not a flaw, because the author does not need to consider other such
surveys taken over the years. The problem is that the survey results presented do not necessarily
reflect the actual state of affairs. If such surveys do not accurately reflect reality, then their results
don’t provide support for the author’s conclusion, regardless of when the surveys were taken.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. The survey results presented reflect only
popular opinion, but the author appears to believe that perception equals reality. Because the author
fails to consider that popular opinion is not necessarily accurate, this argument is flawed.

Answer choice (E): The author does not presume that tougher sentences are the best way to reduce
crime. The conclusion is that the government must firmly address the problem, but the author does
not discuss or imply the best way to reduce crime.

[Kdup]

Hi Powerscore,

This flaw question took me a lot of time and was a little wordy. So, I approached the stimulus by reading it and isolating the conclusion that The government must firmly address the rising crime rate. This is based on the premise that a survey showed that a majority of folks feel that crime is increasing and that the govt should be handing out tougher sentences. .. So I eliminated B, C, and D. I selected answer choice "E' because the answer choice does assume without warrant that tougher sentences will adjust for the crime rate. I'm a little lost at where I went wrong when attacking this question.

[Francis O'Rourke]

This argument presents a classic error of reasoning. In this stimulus we are told that the survey polled "people." The editorial did not check the facts or poll law enforcement experts. Rather, the editorial only looked at what people in general believe.

Since the facts presented deal only with people's beliefs about crime, we can make a conclusion about how safe people feel or what political positions may be popular with the population.

What we cannot do is make a conclusion about the real crime rate. This is an appeal to popular opinion. It is always a flaw to make a conclusion from popular opinion about anything other than popular opinion.

We cannot say that crime is rising, merely because people think that crime is rising. It may be that people believe crime is increasing because of increased depictions of crime on television or because a few high profile crimes have recently occurred.

The editorial however takes what the majority of people believe to be confirmation of facts about the crime rate. Choice (D) states this in somewhat more abstract terms.

Choice (E) states that the speaker presumes that higher sentences are the most effective means of decreasing the crime rate. However, the editorial never stated this position in the argument.