The administrators of a music downloading website were worried that

Question

The administrators of a music downloading website were worried that the lack of downloadable movies and TV shows could diminish the popularity of their site. Accordingly, they decided to survey their existing customers in order to determine whether adding movies would increase interest. The survey found that only a small percentage of their current customers were interested in purchasing movies online, and the administrators concluded that adding movies would not significantly increase traffic to their site.

Which of the following, if true, shows a flaw in the administrator's reasoning?

A. The perceived demand for online movie purchases has been overstated

B. Customers who purchase music online are as likely to purchase movies as music

C. Surveys conducted by email are the best way to assess interest in a new online product.

D. There is only one other website currently offering both music and movies.

E. This website's existing customers are exclusively music aficionados.

Please help me to understand on how the OA is correct as I am still not convinced of it. Also help me to approach Flaw in Reasoning questions.

Source: 800score

aditya8062 · Accepted Answer

the answer is straight E :  This website's existing customers are exclusively music aficionados.

reasoning:  well if the survey that ur conducting in conducted on wrong sample piece then you will never get to know the real situation. this fact is exposed by option E !! if the sample piece is overcrowded by music buffs then there is a reason that they will give wrong info about movies sales

look at the conclusion  :   administrators concluded that adding movies would not significantly increase traffic to their site.

ALSO LOOK THE PREMISE  on which this conclusion is based:  The survey found that only a small percentage of their current customers were interested in purchasing movies online

JarvisR · Answer

My 2 cents.

1:The administrators of a music downloading website were worried that  the lack of downloadable movies and TV shows could diminish the popularity of their site . 
2:The survey found that only  a small percentage of their current customers were interested in purchasing movies

(CONC:)  adding movies would not significantly increase traffic to their site.

The conclusion is based on the result of study. If we can put the study result in doubt that would weaken / cast doubt on the conclusion. Similarly removing any factor that puts the study in doubt would strengthen the conc.
Once classic way to do that is by playing with participants of the study.

Which of the following, if true, shows a flaw in the administrator's reasoning?

a) The perceived demand for online movie purchases has been overstated.
 >>Same as B.Not sufficient to evaluate the arg.
 b) Customers who purchase music online are as likely to purchase movies as music
 >>Doesn't help us in evaluating the study.
 c)  Surveys conducted by emai l are the best way to assess interest in a new online product.
d) There is only one other website currently offering both music and movies.
 >>Irrelevant
  e) This website's existing customers are exclusively music aficionados.
>>Correct.
Yes: its a biased result;If that is true then the result of study doesn't reflect mood of general population. As a result, this can stop prospective customer to join the website and contribute in the bandwidth. 
No:Opposite of arg based on variance Yes.

UJs · Answer

I went with answer choice E, as everything else got crossed out.

I know its E, but  I am not convince with the question  ,  can any one help Explain the Paradox in the question it self ?

if Administrator of site concludes based on a survey that compromised of ( customers who are exclusively music aficionados) : and they said they were not interested in the movies -->than, What's wrong with the conclusion ? (I think conclusion is strong, no Flaw in it ? )

I can accept it or agree, if administrator conducted survey of a smaller group (subset) taking to members who are exclusively music aficionados, and missed out the other larger set. then it will make sense.

u1983 · Answer

Analysis :   
 Music website administrators worry :  that the lack of downloadable movies and TV shows could diminish the popularity of their site. 
 Survey result :  only a small percentage of their current customers were interested in purchasing movies online
 Conclusion by admin:  adding movies would not significantly increase traffic to their site. 
The question to be asked what is the subject of the interest for the surveyed population. In could be the case that as that was a music download site, the customers are also only into music. Thus the survey result aws bad as the current customers don't like movies at all. Now, say if the company adds movie & TV shows , probably they can attract the people who love those. And thus in tern can get huge new subscriptions.

Option A: Incorrect  : No where it is mentioned in the passage that there is a perceived demand for online movie purchases. To me it was only the admins thought. And if I go to some extent and take that as a perceived demand , then this 'overstated perceived demand for online movie' is supportive.

Option B: Incorrect  : This is completely outside information. This could be true or could be false.

Option C: Incorrect  : How the survey is conducted is not at all related to the topic of argument.

Option D: Incorrect  : Competitions , their presence and the effects are not at all related to the topic of argument.

Option E: Correct   : This matches with our analysis that the sample chosen does not like movie but there is every possibility that if the company adds movie & TV shows , probably they can attract the people who love those. And thus in tern can get huge new subscriptions.

jaisonsunny77 · Answer

The website is  mainly a music downloading website . The  lack of downloadable movies and TV shows  could diminish the popularity of their site.

To understand the response of their existing customers to the introduction of downloadable movies and TV shows, the administrators decided to  survey their existing customers .

The survey result: Most of the survey participants were not interested in purchasing movies online.

The conclusion: adding movies would not significantly increase traffic to their site.

The survey respondents were existing customers of the website. We also know that this website is primarily focused on music. So, we can reasonably infer that majority of the survey respondents were music aficionados. If this were true, then their view cannot be considered as typical of the general population.

In (E), we have " This website's existing customers are exclusively music aficionados. ". This fits perfectly well into what we have discussed above. Hence,  (E) is the right answer choice here.

canopyinthecity · Answer

B and E is confusing. Can anyone tell why exactly B is incorrect and how E is correct?

guddo · Answer

The administrators of a music downloading website were worried that the lack of downloadable movies and TV shows could diminish the popularity of their site. Accordingly, they decided to survey their existing customers in order to determine whether adding movies would increase interest. The survey found that only a small percentage of their current customers were interested in purchasing movies online, and the administrators concluded that adding movies would not significantly increase traffic to their site.
 
 Which of the following, if true, shows a flaw in the administrator's reasoning?

The administrators survey only their  existing customers  and then use those results to predict whether adding movies would attract more traffic generally. The flaw is that the current customer base may not represent the people who would be attracted by movie downloads.

(A) The perceived demand for online movie purchases has been overstated

Incorrect. This would support the administrators' conclusion that adding movies would not increase traffic much.

(B) Customers who purchase music online are as likely to purchase movies as music

Incorrect. This would make the existing customers a more relevant group to survey and would therefore strengthen the reasoning.

(C) Surveys conducted by email are the best way to assess interest in a new online product.

Incorrect. This supports the survey method rather than exposing a flaw.

(D) There is only one other website currently offering both music and movies.

Incorrect. Limited competition could actually make adding movies more attractive, but this does not directly expose the flaw in using existing customers as the sample.

(E) This website's existing customers are exclusively music aficionados.

Correct.   If the existing customers are exclusively people interested in music, they may be much less interested in movies than potential new customers would be. So surveying only this group gives a biased sample and does not justify the conclusion that adding movies would fail to increase overall traffic.

Answer: (E)

guddo · Answer

I think the key difference is that  B talks about the existing type of customer , while  E shows that the sample itself may be biased .

(B) says people who buy music online are also likely to buy movies. But the survey already directly asked this site’s current customers and found little interest. B does not explain why surveying only those customers is a bad way to predict future traffic.

(E) does. If the current customers are exclusively music aficionados, they may not represent the new customers who could be attracted once movies are added. So the administrators are using a narrow sample to make a conclusion about overall future traffic.

The administrators of a music downloading website were worried that

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