We know
• 18% of engineers who left within a year had the certification.
• Only 8% of all engineers surveyed reported having it.
We must show that the higher percentage among early leavers does not imply the certification causes or increases likelihood of leaving early to weaken the conclusion.
Analyzing each option:
(A)
- Describes the nature of the exit (voluntary vs. involuntary), but doesn’t address why certification holders are overrepresented.
-
Does not weaken the claim that possessing the certification is linked to early departure.
(B)
- Irrelevant. Argument is about the effect of already having the certification on leaving early, not whether Company Z encourages certification.
Does not weaken.(C)
- Suggests that the 8% figure (overall certification rate) may be underreported.
- But unless it shows that more engineers stayed and were uncertified,
it doesn’t affect the logic.(D)
- Doesn’t address the correlation between certification and early leaving.
- It could support the usefulness of certification.
Not relevant.
(E) This weakens the argument significantly.
• If engineers obtained the certification after joining, then they didn’t already possess it when hired.
• The certification may not be a pre-existing factor, but rather an effect of working at Company Z—and those who get it might also be more likely to leave for better roles.
The certification does not cause early departure, but may be correlated with ambition or job market readiness. This undermines the causal assumption in the argument.