P 1 - A recently published paper concludes that tenured professors or those on their way to tenure don’t enhance student learning as much as full-time lecturers outside the tenure system.
P 2 - The criterion for rewarding tenured faculty typically places a greater emphasis on research than teaching.
C - Clearly, the difference between professors in the tenure system and other full-time lecturers has to do with the reward system for the former.
Assumptions
Co-relation observed – causation assumed
NOTE
The assumptions below are ordered from the best to the not so good ones
by best i mean the assumptions that are pretty broad and the ones i will prethink on the exam
their advantage is that with these broad assumptions in mind, if some minor subset of them appears in choices, i can instantly spot it as the right answer
by not so good ones i mean that - they are a little complex.. not something i will usually prethink on the exam but will definitely spot if it appears in the choices!
about the argument..
this argument is a typical co-relation causation fallacy
A and B are observed to happen
conclusions is that A causes B
correct assumptions are including but not limited to
1. eliminating reverse causation that B causes A
2. eliminating other possible causes of B
3. Eliminating some third cause C that is causing both A and B..
The list of assumptions is as follows..
1. The reward system for tenured professors is not a RESULT of the fact that tenured professors CONCENTRATE more on research and lecturers CONCENTRATE more on enhancement of student skills.
(Causation reversed possibility is eliminated by this assumption).
2. The results are not because of other factors that are different for tenured professors and lecturers.
(eliminating other possible cause).
3. Despite additional responsibility of research, tenured professors get as much TIME and OTHER RESOURCES and OPPORTUNITIES to enhance student skills as full-time lecturers do.
(eliminating other possible cause).
4. Full-time lecturers feel as SECURE as tenured professors about their jobs and do not concentrate on enhancing student skills more as a way to keep their jobs secure.
(eliminating other possible cause).
5. Its not the case that with the security of tenure, the same professors concentrate more on research than on teaching because they LIKE RESEARCH more and don’t have to worry about losing their jobs – this gives them more freedom.
6. The reward system for non tenured lecturers does not place greater emphasis on “something else” than on teaching.
(Nothing is mentioned about the reward system for full-time lecturers
What if –
Reward system of tenured professors is 4 credits for teaching and 6 for research
While
Reward system for full-time lecturers is again 4 credits for teaching and 6 for developing courses, etc. (something other than student skills’ enhancement).
Despite this, if they are better at enhancing student skills, the reward system is not really a reason for the result).
(eliminating other possible causes).
7. The job descriptions of both tenured and non tenured professors require them to enhance student skills EQUAL LY.
(what if the tenured professors were required to concentrate on research more and full-time lecturers to concentrate more on teaching?)
(Eliminating a possible cause for the result).
8. Full time lecturers have roles other than enhancing student skills (just as tenured professors have an additional role of research) –
(so, the additional responsibility is not the reason for the tenured group to be not so good at enhancement of student skills as the full-time lecturers).
(Eliminating a possible cause that ROLES are a determining factor, not the reward system. The same full-time lecturers - even with the same reward system as now- might fall short on enhancing student skills if they have to do research or other work also).
(not a very strong assumption? I will keep this as my last resort).
9. More freedom is not given to tenured professors to choose between teaching and research unlike for full time lecturers who are bound to do only teaching.
(Alternative cause eliminated).
10. The reward system for lecturers places more emphasis (MORE AMOUNT) on teaching than tenured professors.
(Amount vs. Ratio)
(Eg. Ratio for tenured teaching:research =2:3
But what if number of total credits were the same for teaching for both the groups?)
(In the reward systems for both, though Research: teaching RATIO may change,
the TOTAL AMOUNT of “enhancement of student skills” expected of both the groups is NOT the same. (i.e. in the reward system, same NUMBER OF CREDITS are not assigned for enhancement of student skills to both the groups)
.. slightly weak assumption. I will keep this as a last resort, as even if the amounts are same, the higher research: teaching ratio may compel tenured group to concentrate more on research.
hope this is correct
Thanks and regards.
a big fan of
egmat !