AndersonBound wrote:
Which of the following most logically completes the argument?
The growing popularity of computer-based activities was widely predicted to result in a corresponding decline in television viewing. Recent studies have found that, in the United States, people who own computers watch, on average, significantly less television than people who do not own computers. In itself, however, this finding does very little to show that computer use tends to reduce television viewing time, since _______.
(A) many people who watch little or no television do not own a computer.
(B) even though most computer owners in the United States watch significantly less television than the national average, some computer owners watch far more television than the national average.
(C) computer owners in the United States predominately belong to a demographic group that have long been known to spend less time watching television than the population as a whole does.
(D) many computer owners in the United States have enough leisure time that spending significant amounts of time on the computer still leaves ample time for watching television.
(E) many people use their computers primarily for tasks such as correspondence that can be done more rapidly on the computer, and doing so leaves more leisure time for watching television.
Note: There are two questions available with the similar stimulus and same first line but different question. The other question (evaluate the argument) is discussed in: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-growing-p ... 13225.html- Use of computers was expected to decrease TV viewing.
Finding - ON AVERAGE, computer owners watch much less TV than those who do not own computers
This finding does very little to show that computer use tends to reduce television viewing time, since _______.
So the first part says that this finding does not show that computer use reduces TV viewing. We need the reason why it doesn't show that computer use reduces tv viewing.
What could be a possible reason? If we were to say that these people used to watch very less TV even before they got computers then we could say that computer use doesn't reduce TV.
Look these are two different aspects:
- Computer owners watch less TV - Usually people who have computers are not into TV
- Computer use reduces TV - So Mr X bought a computer and his TV time reduced by half
Our finding talks about the first one - computer owners watch less TV.
We want to say that this does not imply the second one. Of course it doesn't imply the second one. Perhaps people who buy computers are those who anyway don't watch TV. Perhaps they don't like to watch TV and hence buy computers to pass time instead - we don't know.
The point is that just because "owning computers" and "watching less TV" co-exist, it doesn't imply causal relation. It doesn't mean that owning computer is the reason for less tv watching.
So what would help to say that computer owning may not be the cause of less tv viewing?
(A) many people who watch little or no television do not own a computer.
Irrelevant set. We need to worry about those who own computers and their habits.
(B) even though most computer owners in the United States watch significantly less television than the national average, some computer owners watch far more television than the national average.
We are talking about averages. Saying that some of the set are at the far end is irrelevant. If some watch far more, there are many others that watch far less to bring the average down.
(C) computer owners in the United States predominately belong to a demographic group that have long been known to spend less time watching television than the population as a whole does.
Correct. So this says that people who own computers are those who anyway watch less TV. Say the intellectuals buy computers. These intellectuals may anyway be watching less TV and investing more time in books etc.
(D) many computer owners in the United States have enough leisure time that spending significant amounts of time on the computer still leaves ample time for watching television.
This says that people have enough time to do both. So this says that shortage of time is not the cause of anything. But we have to figure out whether computer owning is the reason for less TV watching or not. Since time has no influence, it doesn't help us either way.
(E) many people use their computers primarily for tasks such as correspondence that can be done more rapidly on the computer, and doing so leaves more leisure time for watching television.
This says that computer users have more time. This could be the reason why computer users watch MORE TV but that is not our argument. Our discussion is about computer users watching less TV. Hence this is irrelevant.
Answer (C)