Can anyone evaluate AWA, please?
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29 Jun 2015, 04:15
Question -
The following appeared as part of an article reviewing summer camps for children.
Parents, if you need a summer camp for your children look no further than Federville Farms. In a recent survey, Federville Farms ranked first in both overall camper satisfaction and in food quality, and second in the variety of outdoor activities. Federville Farms has been family owned and operated for over forty years, so you have nothing to worry about when it comes to your child's safety, and it employs more Red Cross certified lifeguards than any other camp in the state. If you seek the best camp experience for your children, Federville Farms is the best choice you can make.
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.
Answer -
The argument states that the Federville Farms is the best option for children if they are looking for a summer camp. In the argument, parents are advised to send their children to Federville Farms citing its high rank when it comes to food quality, satisfaction and variety in outdoor activities. The argument rests on a lot of presumptuous assumptions and conclusion is drawn based on those assumptions.
First, nothing has been said about the survey that produced these results. We do not know anything about the authenticity of that survey or about the number of camps that the survey covered. So one can not comment on the quality and experience based solely on the unknown survey. The argument could have been strengthened if there was some information given regarding the survey that produced these results.
Second, the argument has given just three factors that form the total experience of a summer camp and based its conclusion on those three factors only. Apart from camper satisfaction, food quality and variety in outdoor activities, there are other factors such as access to the camp location, quality of the camp instructors, diversity of the group. The argument could have been strengthened if all these factors were taken into account too.
Third, the argument states that the farm has been family owned for over forty years and links this fact with the safety of children. There is no connection between child safety and the time since the camp has been operational. In fact, one can argue that the camp might not have evolved with the new age and might still be using old safety measures and activities. The argument could have been strengthened if the link to child safety and camp age was proved in the argument.
The argument is not logically sound and uses incomplete facts and is quick to jump to conclusions without proving and linking the assumptions that it uses to make the conclusion. The conclusion can be better evaluated if the factors discussed above were mentioned and proved in the argument.