The growing popularity of computer-based activities was widely expecte

The growing popularity of computer-based activities was widely expected to result in a decline in television viewing, since it had been assumed that people lack sufficient free time to maintain current television-viewing levels while spending increasing amounts of free time on the computer. That assumption, however, is evidently false: in a recent mail survey concerning media use, a very large majority of respondents who report increasing time spent per week using computers report no change in time spent watching television.

Which of the following would it be most useful to determine in order to evaluate the argument?

Claim: It has been claimed that it is not true that people lack sufficient free time to maintain current television-viewing levels while spending increasing amounts of free time on the computer

(A) Whether a large majority of the survey respondents reported watching television regularly Whether a large majority reported watching television regularly or not is irrelevant

(B) Whether the amount of time spent watching television is declining among people who report that they rarely or never use computers The information provided by people who rarely or never use computers is out of scope.

(C) Whether the type of television programs a person watches tends to change as the amount of time spent per week using computers increases The type of television programs a person watches is irrelevant.

(D) Whether a large majority of the computer owners in the survey reported spending increasing amounts of time per week using computers That the people surveyed are computer owners is not relevant.

(E) Whether the survey respondents' reports of time spent using computers included time spent using computers at work If the answer to this question is “Yes, the time spent using computers did include the time spent using computers at work”, then it weaken the claim. If the answer is “No, the time spent using computers did not include time spent using computers at work, then it strengthens the claim. Since the probable answers strengthens and weaken the argument, this is the answer.

- Nitha Jay

I will go with (A).

(B) argument is not at all bothered for the ppl who dont or rarely use computers. OUT OF SCOPE.
(C) out of scope... type of programs
(D) touches only one part. what about time they spent in watching TV
(E) again out of scope

(A) finds a loophole in the argument and will help in evaluating it.

I'll go with E as the assumption talked about the free time folks spend on computers / TV.

Reason behind E:

if they are increasing their computer use, it could be because they are increasing it at work ! which would not cut into any free time which could otherwise be used for TV viewing.

A is wrong because it does not matter how often a person watches TV. That already was found in the study that there was no change in TV viewing. Therefore if people watched TV regularly, or once a month, it wouldnt matter. We are concerned about the impact over time.

IMO E

A. Whether a large majority of the survey respondents reported watching television
regularly
- No matter how many people reported in survey, because the result will not affected further.
B. Whether the amount of time spent watching television is declining among people
who report that they rarely or never use computers
- Never use comp is OOS
C. Whether the type of television programs a person watches tends to change as the
amount of time spent per week using computers increases
- Type of TV program is OOS
D. Whether a large majority of the computer owners in the survey reported spending
increasing amounts of time per week using computers
- Computer owner is OOS
E. Whether the survey respondents’ reports of time spent using computers included
time spent using computers at work
- Seems to be right answer. All those people who calculate time spent at work definitely underestimate the report’s result.

If the assumption has to be false and the survey results do not lie, there should be somthing that should account for the increase in time spent per week using computers and no charge in time spent watching television.

I think (E) accounts for it and should help evaluate the argument.

I would go with E. Here is why

A. Whether a large majority of the survey respondents reported watching television
regularly - This category of people should see reduced usage of computer.
B. Whether the amount of time spent watching television is declining among people
who report that they rarely or never use computers - out-of-scope since not interested in opposite effects of computers
C. Whether the type of television programs a person watches tends to change as the
amount of time spent per week using computers increases - We're interested in the total TV viewing time not change in tastes resulting in watching different programs.
D. Whether a large majority of the computer owners in the survey reported spending
increasing amounts of time per week using computers - One sided and not relevant since we want to see the effects on TV viewing.
E. Whether the survey respondents’ reports of time spent using computers included
time spent using computers at work - Knowing this will definitely skew the survey and the conclusion from the survey.

//kudos please, if this explanation is good

When the argument says "free-time" it means time that is not spent on work.


Case1:

Let's say the year is 1998.

A person works at the office for 8 hours a day - 0 hours of this time is spent on the computer.
He returns home at 6 p.m, watches tv for three hours and goes to sleep at 9 pm.

Let's say the year is 2014.

A person works at the office for 8 hours a day - 6 hours of this time is spent on the computer.
He returns home at 6 p.m, watches tv for three hours and goes to sleep at 9 pm.

Time spent using computers has increased but free time to watch tv has not been affected.

Case 2:

Let's say the year is 2012.

A person works at the office for 8 hours a day - 6 hours of this time is spent on the computer.
He returns home at 6 p.m, watches tv for three hours and goes to sleep at 9 pm.

Let's say the year is 2014.

A person works at the office for 8 hours a day - 6 hours of this time is spent on the computer.
He returns home at 6 p.m, uses his free time on the computer for two hours and as a result has only one hour to watch tv before he can go to sleep at 9 pm..

Time spent using computers has increased and free time to watch tv has been affected.

Can someone plz explain it to me clearly? I seriously do not get it at all .

Isn't it about "even with increased time spent on computers the time spent on TV viewing has not changed"?
So it is the TV viewing time that is the prime concern ryt? Not the free-time theory

Question:The growing popularity of computer-based activities was widely expected to result in a
decline in television viewing, since it had been assumed that people lack sufficient free
time to maintain current television-viewing levels while spending increasing amounts of
free time on the computer. That assumption, however, is evidently false: in a recent mail
survey concerning media use, a very large majority of respondents who report increasing
time spent per week using computers report no charge in time spent watching television.
Which of the following would it be most useful to determine in order to evaluate the
argument?

A. Whether a large majority of the survey respondents reported watching television
regularly
B. Whether the amount of time spent watching television is declining among people
who report that they rarely or never use computers

C. Whether the type of television programs a person watches tends to change as the
amount of time spent per week using computers increases

D. Whether a large majority of the computer owners in the survey reported spending
increasing amounts of time per week using computers

E. Whether the survey respondents’ reports of time spent using computers included
time spent using computers at work

Let's figure out the conclusion first as it is the difficult part in this question

Conclusion: The popularity of computer based activities has not led to the decline of television viewing.

Why??

Premise: The survey results said that people are spending more time on the computer per week but no change in time spent watching television.
Earlier it was assumed that people have less sufficient free time and thus TV viewing will decline but this assumption is wrong and People have sufficient free time to not to reduce TV viewing.

For Evaluate question type, The answer to the questions above should swing the conclusion from one extreme to another

A. Whether a large majority of the survey respondents reported watching television
regularly

Ans is Yes,then a large majority of the survey respondents reported watching television regularly. It does not do anything to the conclusion
No again nothing to the conclusion

B. Whether the amount of time spent watching television is declining among people
who report that they rarely or never use computers
Well this class of people is out of scope. We are only worried about people who use computers in free time

C.Whether the type of television programs a person watches tends to change as the
amount of time spent per week using computers increases

We are only bothered about time spent watching TV and not really concerned about the content

D. Whether a large majority of the computer owners in the survey reported spending
increasing amounts of time per week using computers

the large majority of computer owners in the survey will be a subset of total no. of people responded in the survey.If this population of computer owners in the survey is 99% of the total survey size then surely TV viewing is effected but if this size of computer owners is only 1% then TV viewing may not be effected because you will have more people who may not be owners but still be using computers the results of this class will define what happens to TV viewing...
So ruled out.

So even if you answer this question you cannot arrive at the conclusion.


E.Whether the survey respondents’ reports of time spent using computers included
time spent using computers at work

If the answer is yes then surely time spent on computers is more but usage in free time may be less and hence TV viewing remains same
If the answer is no then using computers only considers free time which will be less and hence people will have less time to watch TV..

Many a people are pointing out BLATANTLY WRONG options, based on god knows what criteria.
FIRST understand the argument.
THEN understand the question.

WE have to evaluate the ARGUMENT. THE ONLY WAY TO CHOOSE A CORRECT OPTION IN EVALUATE AN ARGUMENT IS TO GET TWO POLARISING OPPOSITE ANSWERS WHEN WE ASK A COMMON QUESTION

The stimulus talks about FREE TIME -the time that a person spend time on computer and thus cannot afford to spend watching TV.
But surprisingly the person is doing both.
how can this be possible.
This can only be possible when he is taking into account the time he spends at work as the time spend on computers.

CURRENTLY IN THE SURVEY HE IS BEING ASKED ""DOES YOUR TV WATCHING TIME HAS DECREASED BECAUSE OF COMPUTER"?

OBVIOUSLY THE PERSON WILL SAY NO, BECAUSE HE IS INCLUDING HIS WORK TIME.

THE CORRECT QUESTION THAT NEEDS TO BE ASKED IS "AFTER COMING HOME, DO YOU SPEND THE SAME TIME IN WATCHING TV AS YOU USED TO DO BEFORE COMPUTERS?"

Now if the person have a computer at home and uses it a lot,then he will say:- yeah man.. i don't watch tv anymore.. i surf and google and stuff.
Now if the person do not have a computer then he will say:- no man.. i watch the same programs , same time.. nothing changed.

THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO EVALUATE AN ARGUMENT. LEARN IT, UNDERSTAND IT AND USE IT. IT IS CALLED VARIANCE TEST.

SO the correct answer is E

For more info read LSAT CR book

Computer-based Activities
 
Step 1: Identify the Question

The words useful to determine and evaluate the argument in the question stem indicate that this is an Evaluate the Argument question.

Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument

Comp expctd →  < TV, since assumed not enough free time
© False! Survey: > comp but same TV!

(Note: the © symbol is one way to indicate the conclusion in your notes.)
The argument debunks an expectation: people aren’t replacing their TV time with more computer time. They’re watching the same amount of TV and increasing their computer time. (Perhaps they’re using both devices at the same time?)

Step 3: Pause and State the Goal

On Evaluate questions, each answer will be in the form of a question or a “whether x is true” statement. The correct answer will address an issue on which the argument hinges, depending on whether that statement is true: one way, the argument will be strengthened; the other way, the argument will be weakened.

Step 4: Work from Wrong to Right

(A) If a large majority do watch TV regularly, then the argument is not impacted one way or the other. Likewise, if a large majority do not watch TV regularly, the argument is not impacted. The argument does not depend on how regularly the respondents watched TV.
(B) People who don’t (or rarely) use computers are the wrong group of people to investigate. The argument is concerned with people who are using computers (and who are increasing their usage).
(C) If people watch the same kinds of programs, the argument is not impacted. If people watch different programs, the argument is not impacted. The argument does not depend upon the types of programs people watch.
(D) Even if a large majority kept increasing their computer usage week by week, the argument is not impacted; the respondents still reported spending the same amount of time watching TV each week.
(E) CORRECT. If the increase in computer usage is occurring at work, then this increase wouldn’t be expected to impact TV viewing during free time at home. This information would weaken the claim that the original assumption was false, since the assumption was based specifically on computer usage at home. If, on the other hand, respondents are using computers more at home, then the survey does strengthen the claim that the original assumption was false.

Hi Bunuel

This is Question # 36 in OG 2015 kindly add the tag.

Thanks

Yes: time is spent on using computers at work is increased then it does not affect their free time . hence assumption is WRONG.

No: It means the time spent on computers is increased so it does affect their free time . But time spent on TV is same.
So I am confused it strengthen the assumption OR it does not impact claim?
1.) Reason for no impact:
Now total free time is MORE. Their time spending on TV is same.
Argument doesn’t say : percentage of free time watching television.


Analysis:
When in argument we have: A (total free time) causes B (time in watching TV). If A is changed and B is still same then it means that A doesn’t cause B.
Considering concept on similar lines: increasing time on computer doesn’t affect time in watching TV.

2. Reason for strengthening the assumption (whatever is assumed is right- time spent affect TV watching)
They spend more time on computer. It TENDS to reduce their free time spent on watching TV. Hence the assumption TENDS to be true.



I am confused with my analysis in between 1 and 2. Which one I need to consider 1 or 2? How can I avoid entangled in such confusion? What I need to take my thinking simple?

Please guide AndrewN sir VeritasKarishma ma'm

imSKR:

There is no discussion of increasing "work time" and reducing "free time". So any analysis based on that is incorrect. One could easily be increasing computer time within the 8 hr work time. Someone who was working on computer for 1 hr in the office could now be putting in 2 hrs.

Focus on what is being discussed. I like to make sets based circles in my head.
"people who are spending more free time on computers" and "people who are spending more time on computers" are different circles.

Hello, imSKR. I agree with the thorough analysis that VeritasKarishma has provided above. To add my two cents, since you requested my input, and to address your questions at the end of your post, to keep your thinking simple, you want to pare down the question, pertinent part(s) of the passage, and answer choices to their essentials and then look to evaluate them. For example, since this is an evaluate the argument question, we need to know what that argument says. Understanding that relationship is key to assessing the answer choices.



To be honest, we do not strictly have to read the assumption (although I would recommend reading the whole passage), since we can take the explanation provided and piece together what it must suggest. The evidence cited tells us that many people spend more time per week using computers, yet they watch a similar amount of television. My initial thought was that they might watch TV shows on their computers, but this is why I do not go crazy with so-called pre-thinking. In any case, the correct answer must reconcile this notion that more computer use does not lead to a difference in television-viewing habits. My mini-breakdown of the answer choices:

(A) The frequency of watching television has nothing to do with the number of hours logged per week. Red light.

(B) This subset of people (among people who...) is not the group mentioned in the evidence—i.e. respondents who report increasing time spent per week using computers. Red light.

(C) Which programs someone chooses to watch will not affect total viewing time. Red light.

(D) Now we are pigeonholing a different group of respondents, computer owners, when the final line of the passage does not single out this subset. Red light.

(E) Respondents in general + time spent on computers = a quite reasonable answer, particularly in light of the others. Green light.

That is about as deep as I delved into the question and answers. If you want a streamlined approach, stick to the surface and make sure the keywords fit.

I hope that helps. Since I was beaten to the punch, I offered a different type of analysis this time. Thank you for seeking my assistance.

- Andrew

VeritasKarishma AjiteshArun Can you please explain this one in detail.
How does knowing whether the time spent on computers at work has to do with spending time on television. In any case, the respondents are saying that their time spent on watching TV has not reduced.