binit wrote:
A politician wrote the following: "I realize there are some short-comings to the questionnaire method. However, since I send a copy of the questionnaire to every home in the district, I believe the results are quite representative...I think the numbers received are so large that it is quite accurate even though the survey is not done scientifically."
The writer of the above statement makes which of the following assumptions:
(A) Most people who received the questionnaire have replied.
(B) Most people in the district live in homes.
(C) The questionnaire method of data collection is unscientific.
(D) The large number of replies means that a high proportion of those sampled have replied.
(E) A large, absolute number of replies is synonymous with accuracy.
I do not think the OA is foolproof. There are 2 premises here and the choices D and E each target the links between those premises and the conclusion.
Q is on the lips of the politician. So, in order to perform Negation Test of choice E, let's say somebody informs the politician that, "Sir, a large, absolute number of replies is NOT synonymous with accuracy."
He may reply, "But young man, a large, absolute number of replies, when clubbed with quite representative results, leads to accuracy w/o fail, isn't it?"
I just want to point out that, choice D is ALSO an assumption like choice E. Had the OA be D, the same thing could have been argued against that.
Experts please suggest. Where I am going wrong or overthinking?
Thanks.
No, that is not correct. The politician does not assume (D).
He says: since I send a copy of the questionnaire to every home in the district, I believe the results are quite representative...
He does not say that since we got a large number of replies, the results are representative. He is assuming that sending the questionnaire to every household makes the result representative. But every household may not have participated in the survey so it is an assumption.
He is assuming that:
"sending questionnaire to everyone" means "representative results"
and
"large number of replies" means "accurate results"
Only (E) gives one of these relations.