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605-655 Level|   Evaluate Argument|               
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chunjuwu
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The growing popularity of computer-based activities was widely expecte Updated on: 22 Nov 2018, 05:02
Originally posted by chunjuwu on 16 Jan 2005, 06:09.
Last edited by Bunuel on 22 Nov 2018, 05:02, edited 1 time in total.
Renamed the topic and edited the question.
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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?


(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

Note: There are two questions available with the similar stimulus and same first line but different question. The other question (complete the argument) is discussed in: LINK
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The growing popularity of computer-based activities was widely expecte 27 Feb 2021, 07:20
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sudeshpatodiya
Quote:
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?


(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


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.
Show more

Bumping this up as even I have the same query.
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The growing popularity of computer-based activities was widely expecte 27 Feb 2021, 16:32
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sudeshpatodiya
Quote:
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?


(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


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.

Bumping this up as even I have the same query.
Show more

I would like to add my few cents as I have discussed this questions before :


Quote:
The growing popularity of computer-based activities was widely expected to result in a decline in television viewing,
Show more
General Thinking: As popularity of computer increases ---> TV viewing would decrease
Why such a thought?
Quote:
since it had been assumed that people lack sufficient free time to maintain current television-viewing levels while spending
Show more
increasing amounts of free time on the computer.
>> People have same amount of time == either spend on TV (X) or spend on computer(Y) . As computer popularity increase, Time on TV is going to be reduced.
Conclusion is based on this thought . Total = X+ Y ( As Y increases X decreases)
Quote:
That assumption, however, is evidently false:
Show more
Assumption is FALSE: it means the thought: People have same amount of time COULD BE WRONG--my first thought why assumption could be wrong.
Quote:
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.
Show more
Here it is same explanation: X is same , even Y increases.
Quote:
Which of the following would it be most useful to determine in order to evaluate the argument?
Show more
which statement can give some more clarity on Total = X + Y in order to decide that assumption is really Wrong or right.
Quote:
(E) Whether the survey respondents' reports of time spent using computers included time spent using computers at work
Show more
So E says T is same : X remain same but Y increases in other set which may doesn't affect total T. However Y still indicates that it is popularity.
I have less challenges to option E as compared to other options.
Evaluation means : YES or NO can bring the results in extreme conditions
YES: Assumption stays FALSE: keeps the argument
NO: Assumption become true : breaks the argument

See your question again:
Quote:
How does knowing whether the time spent on computers at work(Y') has to do with spending time on television (X). In any case, the respondents are saying that their time spent on watching TV has not reduced (T).
Show more

Y' has nothing to do with X and thus not with T. But as Y' increases , I get the message : computer Popularity increases. As X stays same: I get the message that X doesn't fall down.
Before: X fall down as computer popularity increases.
Now with E: X stay same even popularity increases .

It is helpful?
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The growing popularity of computer-based activities was widely expecte 13 May 2023, 08:34
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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.

First step, Read the question stimulus very carefully,
Which of the following would it be most useful to determine in order to evaluate the argument?

Second step, deconstruct the argument in yours words:
rise the computer-based activities result in a decline in television viewing, but why?
it is assumed that people use more free time on the computer rather than spending television viewing,
The above assumption is false, but why? A recent survey related to media use found that a large majority
of respondents who report increasing time spent per week using computer report no change in time spent watching television

Third Step: find the conclusion of the argument
Conclusion: The above assumption is false. a recent survey is just to support the author's claim.
Fouth Step: Wrong to Right
What if respondents lie about their time spent on the computer per week(maybe more on watching television or the same amount of time spent on both)
What if respondents spent their time on other activities more than a computer? let's see the option choices
Fifth Step: Read each option choice very clearly and precisely

(A) Whether a large majority of the survey respondents reported watching television regularly
we are here concerned about respondents who report increasing time spent. In this option, choices don't clearly say how many hours they spent on watching
television. For example, I daily visit the GMATClub to solve a Verbal OG problem. But it doesn't tell how many hours I spent solving The OG problem
may be one hour or two-hour. similarly, a large majority of the survey respondents don't tell us how many hours they spent watching television
regularly. we can assume any hours here. that's why option choice (a) is wrong.

(B) Whether the amount of time spent watching television is declining among people who report that they rarely or never use computers
it is out of context.

(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 aren't concerned with the television programs a person watches.

(D) Whether a large majority of the computer owners in the survey reported spending increasing amounts of time per week using computers
spending increasing amounts of time doesn't mean how many hours increase to watching TV. Same as(a)

(E) Whether the survey respondents' reports of time spent using computers included time spent using computers at work
if yes, survey respondents' reports of time spent using computers included time spent using computers at work. It weakens the author's argument.
If No, survey respondents' reports of time spent using computers didn't include time spent using computers at work. it strengthens the argument.
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The growing popularity of computer-based activities was widely expecte 30 Aug 2024, 23:34
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MartyMurray Can you pls distill very clearly why D is wrong and E is right?

Here is my explanation for each

D wrong
- Talking about subset of respondents - only computer owners while the Q is on total respondents
- No info on TV reviewing for this subset for us to come to any conclusion

E right
- Talking about total respondents so on right track
- If Yes work time is included - it may happen that
- If no work time is not included - Definetely assumption is false and it means that total free time has increased as computer use has increased while TV hasnt declined

My two follow up q/s
1. Is the argument trying to say that free time is constant and that increase in computer usage is offset with decrease in Tv viewing while answering No to E says free time has increased and that computer use is increased while TV has stayed same
2. The right choice has a clear yes and no. But in option E if we say yes Work time is included how can we still assess anything? It may happen that work time has stayed the same but free time thereby increasing computer usage and keeping TV constant?
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The growing popularity of computer-based activities was widely expecte 08 Sep 2024, 03:38
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To evaluate this argument, we need to consider which piece of information would be most relevant to assessing its strength or weaknesses. Let's analyze the argument and then consider each option:

The argument essentially states:
1. It was expected that increased computer use would lead to decreased TV viewing.
2. This expectation was based on the assumption that people don't have enough free time for both activities.
3. A survey showed that most people who increased their computer use did not change their TV viewing habits.
4. Therefore, the original assumption is false.

Now, let's look at each option:

(A) Whether a large majority of the survey respondents reported watching television regularly
This isn't particularly relevant. We're interested in the relationship between computer use and TV viewing, not just how many people watch TV.

(B) Whether the amount of time spent watching television is declining among people who rarely or never use computers
This doesn't directly address the argument, which is about people who are increasing their computer use.

(C) Whether the type of television programs a person watches tends to change as the amount of time spent per week using computers increases
While interesting, this doesn't address the core issue of time spent on each activity.

(D) Whether a large majority of the computer owners in the survey reported spending increasing amounts of time per week using computers
This might be slightly relevant, but we're already told that the survey is about people who reported increasing computer use.

(E) Whether the survey respondents' reports of time spent using computers included time spent using computers at work
This is the most relevant option. Here's why:

1. The original assumption was about free time.
2. The survey results seem to contradict this assumption.
3. However, if the reported increase in computer use includes work time, it doesn't actually contradict the original assumption about free time.

If people are including work computer use in their responses, it doesn't necessarily mean they're using more of their free time on computers. This could explain why their TV viewing habits haven't changed - their free time allocation might not have changed as much as the survey initially suggests.

Therefore, option (E) would be the most useful to determine in order to evaluate the argument. It directly addresses a potential flaw in the survey's interpretation and its relevance to the original assumption about free time allocation.
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The growing popularity of computer-based activities was widely expecte 17 Nov 2025, 10:54
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Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

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