According to the results of a new ground-breaking research, those who

Question

According to the results of a new ground-breaking research, those who wake up early in the morning are generally more alert during the day than those who wake up late. Thus, companies should insist that all their employees wake up early so that they remain alert all through the day.

Which of the following is an assumption in the above argument?

(A) People who wake up early in the morning will not get lethargic during the day. 
(B) It is a good idea for employees to remain alert during the day. 
(C) Alert employees are generally more productive than lethargic ones. 
(D) An alert nature does not cause people to wake up early in the morning. 
(E) Lethargy can be cured in other ways as well such as by having a cup of strong coffee.

blowice27 · Accepted Answer

D.
Classic Gmat Problem
A and B, both occur. Conclusion A caused B, assumption B didn't cause A.
Argument says people waking up early makes people alert. But what if alertness caused them to wake up early, then the argument will fall apart. Hence the assumption

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vyascd · Answer

IMO : D

This is a very classical type of CR question where it assumes  A gives rise to --> B

After pre-thinking Option D is clearly the correct option

Pratheek95 · Answer

How Can D be the answer? The Assumption is that Companies refer more alert employees, how does that factor into D

ArihantJain18 · Answer

C is the correct choice in my view. If D was- Alert nature causes people to wake up early in the morning, I would have marked that. But it is the exact opposite.
C is the right choice in my view

krishnabalu · Answer

Can someone help me how D would be the ideal among the other choices

Bombsante · Answer

According to the results of a new ground-breaking research, those who wake up early in the morning are generally more alert during the day than those who wake up late. Thus, companies should insist that all their employees wake up early so that they remain alert all through the day.

Hi, IMO we are missing out few crucial modifiers in the conclusion. The conclusion says that "companies  should insist  that  all their employees wake up early  so that they remain alert all through the day."

IMO the argument assumes that employees of the company do not wake up early.

Choice C is a classical trick option. It mentions  more productive  instead of  more alert . Nowhere in the passage it is mentioned that waking up early increases productivity.

I am not still able to decode why option D is correct, however it is the only choice that remains after POE.

gmatns2018 · Answer

According to the results of a new ground-breaking research, those who wake up early in the morning are generally more alert during the day than those who wake up late. Thus, companies should insist that all their employees wake up early so that they remain alert all through the day.

Which of the following is an assumption in the above argument?

(A) People who wake up early in the morning will not get lethargic during the day. 
(B) It is a good idea for employees to remain alert during the day. 
(C) Alert employees are generally more productive than lethargic ones. 
(D) An alert nature does not cause people to wake up early in the morning. 
(E) Lethargy can be cured in other ways as well such as by having a cup of strong coffee.

shobhitkh

results  of a new ground-breaking research -> those who  wake up early  in the morning are generally more  alert during the day

assumption: waking up early causes alertness

however it could be that people who are alert tend to wake up early

statement has nothing to do with productivity

shobhitkh · Answer

gmatns2018  But still I reserve my contention that how D is an assumption in justifying the above argument. Can you please explain?

saukrit · Answer

A traditional example of causality

waking up early --> Alertness

This can be negated by
Alertness-->waking up early
(the argument falls apart if this is true)

gmatns2018 · Answer

Statement  : results -> those who   wake up early   in the morning are generally   more alert   during the day

author says- companies should insist employees to wake up early  so that they  remain alert

so the author is assuming "alert nature does not cause people to wake up early in the morning" -- but waking up causes alertness

Summary: The result only shows the data that ppl who wake up early are also ppl who are more alert but does not define the causation ...and the author just assumes that waking up causes alertness hence employees should wake up early ...however it could be that ppl who are alert by nature tend to wake up early

KarishmaB · Answer

Results: Those who wake up early, stay alert during the day. 
The results do not say that waking up early causes one to be alert. It says there is a correlation.

Conclusion: Wake up employees early to make them stay alert. 
The conclusion assumes that waking up early causes one to be alert. It assumes that it is not the other way around - that alert people are the ones who wake up early.

(A) People who wake up early in the morning will not get lethargic during the day.

Not an assumption. The study says that those who wake up early are usually alert in the day.

(B) It is a good idea for employees to remain alert during the day.

Not an assumption. The conclusion says that "so that your employees remain alert, make them wake up early." Basically it says that to make your employees alert, make them wake up early.

(C) Alert employees are generally more productive than lethargic ones.

Irrelevant to our argument. Productivity is not discussed. The reason for wanting alert employees could be the dangerous nature of the job or N other things. Whether they are more productive or not, is not discussed.

(D) An alert nature does not cause people to wake up early in the morning.

Exactly. To establish that waking them early will cause them to be alert, we are assuming that the reverse causation does not hold - that 'alert people are the ones who wake up early' does not hold.

(E) Lethargy can be cured in other ways as well such as by having a cup of strong coffee.

Not relevant. We want to talk about whether waking up early can make one alert. How to cure lethargy by other means is irrelevant.

Answer (D)

rashwiniyer · Answer

B is a trap. We don't know whether it is a good idea. What if the best is to be lazy in the afternoon

. Best answer is 'D' which a classic case of reverse causal.

goaltop30mba · Answer

hi Karishma,

With all due respect, i am still not convinced with your analysis regarding answer choice A. I chose option D, which obviously is correct as the author of the mentioned argument clearly assumes that Y doesn't cause X, given X causes Y.

But, how is option A wrong ? Even if the employees wake up early, waking up early can lead to being lethargic later in the day. Option A eliminates the same alternate effect of the mentioned cause, which is another way to strengthen an argument. X can cause Z, an alternate effect of X. Option A says that X won't cause Z. This is an assumption as well.

Maybe because A is a strengthener that doesn't always have to be true, and B is that basic causal assumption that always has to be true, we have D as the answer. ...am i right ? ?

Kindly help me understand

Regards,
Aditliverpoolfc

dcummins · Answer

The question tests you on causality and the argument is based on the causal assumption that people who wake up early in the morning are generally more alert.

This assumption inherently denies 2 things:
1. That there is no other reason these people (who wake up in the morning) to be more alert; and
2. That the reverse isn't true. Reverse causality would state that alert people generally wake up earlier in the mornings.

Number 2. would also weaken the argument if we negate it:

(D) An alert nature does  not cause people to wake up early in the morning. --> therefore the argument that "companies should insist that all their employees wake up early so that they remain alert all through the day" has no grounds for it is the alertness of people that causes them to wake up early.

Hope it helps.

Bunuel · Answer

Official Explanation

Answer: D

This question is testing you on causality. The argument concludes that the cause is  waking up early  and the effect is  alertness . The two assumptions then are that nothing else is responsible for this alertness and that alertness does not lead to waking up early in the morning.  D states the second of these and should be the correct answer.

(A) This can at best be an inference from the argument but does not have to be the assumption. The assumption will make the argument true whereas this can only be inferred if you assume that the argument is true.

(B) Again, this could be an inference but does not have to be the assumption.

(C) Same as B.

(E) Other cures for lethargy are outside the scope of the argument.

Deep32470 · Answer

My friend then it is not an assumption, it would be inference and that inference too is not directly related with employee productivity as there is not slight mention of it. Hope it helps.

VerbalBot · Answer

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