In a survey of 100 pet owners, 80 percent said that they would buy

Question

In a survey of 100 pet owners, 80 percent said that they would buy a more expensive pet food if it contained vitamin supplements. Consequently, CatCo’s new premium cat food should be a top-seller.

Which of the following best demonstrates a weakness in the author’s conclusion?

(A) Some brands of cat food contain more vitamin supplements than CatCo’s does.

(B) CatCo sells more cat food than any of its competitors.

(C) Some of the cat owners surveyed stated that they never buy expensive brands of cat food.

(D) Ninety-five of those pet owners surveyed did not own cats.

(E) Many veterinarians have stated that vitamin supplements in cat food do not greatly increase health benefits.

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Purnank · Answer

Does survey represents cat owners specifically? I think not. So, option D is best fit here, demonstrates a weakness in the author’s conclusion because it reveals that the survey sample is not representative of cat owners, Doubting the prediction about CatCo’s new cat food being a top-seller.

ribbons · Answer

A) Some brands of cat food contain more vitamin supplements than CatCo’s does.  Only CatCo concerns us

(B) CatCo sells more cat food than any of its competitors.  Out of scope

(C) Some of the cat owners surveyed stated that they never buy expensive brands of cat food.  But maybe they will bc increase in vitamins which is what the survey is about

(D) Ninety-five of those pet owners surveyed did not own cats.  This questions the legitimacy of the survey on which the assumption of CatCo selling is based on. If we asked pet owners that own birds or dogs or whatever then their opinion doesnt neccessarily translate to the cat owners'

(E) Many veterinarians have stated that vitamin supplements in cat food do not greatly increase health benefits.  Tangential, the Para never mentions vets

Bunuel · Answer

The OA will be automatically revealed on Thursday 20th of June 2024 01:30:33 AM Pacific Time Zone

Shwarma · Answer

Option D ?

Catco will be a premium category top seller
best weakness a new premise that will make us doubt the conclusion

A- this maybe but, but how many vitamins is more and will sway user minds?, what if catco is a top brand - too many unanswered ends -  Eliminate 
D- It says the surveyed folks are not cat owners so we cannot directly use that data to infer- it is not breaking the conclusion but it is making us down the inference drawn

captain0612 · Answer

IMO Option D

Survey of 100   PET   owners => 80% would buy premium food, if it contained vitamin supp.
Catco's conclusion on  Cat food sales  is dependent on the  pet owner survey .

Logical link -> pet owner survey --- increased Catco's premium cat food sales

Question type - Weaken. The choice that attacks the logical link, based on which the conclusion is drawn, is a Weakner.

(A) Some brands of cat food contain more vitamin supplements than CatCo’s does.  This comparison with other cat food brands doesn't help. We know nothing of other brands and how their sales are. Moreover, we are only concerned about Catco's sales.  Incorrect

(B) CatCo sells more cat food than any of its competitors.  So what, this doesn't attack the link.  Incorrect

(C) Some of the cat owners surveyed stated that they never buy expensive brands of cat food.  We already know this, as this information is already provided in the argument above (20% wouldn't purchase a premium cat food). No new information, but the same premise is reworded.  Incorrect

(D) Ninety-five of those pet owners surveyed did not own cats.   Correct  Now, if majority of the surveryed participants did not own cats, then how can Catco predict based on the survey? This choice tells us that the survey isn't a reliable source for the predicted outcome, attacking the logical link.

(E) Many veterinarians have stated that vitamin supplements in cat food do not greatly increase health benefits.  So, according to vets vitamin supp don't greatly increase health benefits. But we don't how does this information would affect the purchasing decisions of the consumer. So, this choice doesn't weaken the argument. We need additional info to make this a weakner (probably cat owners listen to vets 100% of the time).  Incorrect

PranavVyas · Answer

IMO D

(D) Ninety-five of those pet owners surveyed did not own cats.- 
If pet owner don't own any pets then it's is difficult to review about there necessary food

Posted from my mobile device

HarishD · Answer

In a survey of 100 pet owners, 80 percent said that they would buy a more expensive pet food if it contained vitamin supplements. Consequently, CatCo’s new premium cat food should be a top-seller.

Which of the following best demonstrates a weakness in the author’s conclusion?

PRETHINKING 1:  
 80 people are ready to buy "expensive pet food" if ti contains vitamin supplements: IMO: Here comparison is done between "pet food w/o vitamin" and "pet food with vitamin" supplements. If there are two pet foods and both have vitamin supplemets and CatCo's cat food is expensive then others, in that case also it weakens the conclusion. 
  PRETHINKING 2:    Comparison is done between pet food but conclusion mentioned cat food. (Flawed) 
 
(A) Some brands of cat food contain more vitamin supplements than CatCo’s does.
   Nothing about quantity of vitamins

(B) CatCo sells more cat food than any of its competitors.
   Ok, so what ?

(C) Some of the cat owners surveyed stated that they never buy expensive brands of cat food.
   Out of scope

(D) Ninety-five of those pet owners surveyed did not own cats.
    CORRECT: This matches our prethinking

(E) Many veterinarians have stated that vitamin supplements in cat food do not greatly increase health benefits.
   Nothing about veg/non-veg

Legenddary1234 · Answer

IMO D

The conclusion drawn in the argument is that CatCo's new premium cat food, which presumably contains vitamin supplements, should be a top-seller. This conclusion is based on the premise from a survey that 80% of pet owners would buy more expensive pet food if it contained vitamin supplements.

To find the best option that demonstrates a weakness in the author's conclusion, we need to identify an answer that undermines the assumption that the survey results apply directly to CatCo's cat food sales.

(A) Some brands of cat food contain more vitamin supplements than CatCo’s does.

This choice suggests that CatCo’s new premium cat food might not be as competitive in terms of vitamin supplement content. However, it does not directly weaken the conclusion about the potential top-selling status based solely on the presence of vitamin supplements.
(B) CatCo sells more cat food than any of its competitors.

This information could actually support the conclusion rather than weaken it, as a leading market position might enhance sales potential.
(C) Some of the cat owners surveyed stated that they never buy expensive brands of cat food.

While relevant, this only indicates a preference against expensive brands among some cat owners, not necessarily a significant enough factor to dispute the conclusion about the new product's potential success.
(D) Ninety-five of those pet owners surveyed did not own cats.

This choice significantly weakens the conclusion because it challenges the relevance of the survey data to CatCo’s target market. If most surveyed pet owners do not own cats, their preferences might not reflect the purchasing behaviors of cat owners specifically.
(E) Many veterinarians have stated that vitamin supplements in cat food do not greatly increase health benefits.

This choice undermines the perceived value of vitamin supplements in cat food but does not directly address whether cat owners (regardless of the actual benefit) would buy such products as indicated by the survey.
Among these options, (D) best demonstrates a weakness in the author's conclusion because if the majority of the surveyed individuals are not cat owners, their preferences about pet food are less likely to be indicative of the market behavior of cat owners, who are the actual target customers for CatCo’s new cat food. Hence, the survey results may not accurately predict the sales success of the new cat food among cat owners

Bunuel · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

Because the argument hinges on statistics, eliminate answers that don’t directly address the statistical evidence. Those surveyed stated that they’d pay more for pet food with vitamin supplements, but they didn’t provide information on whether the amount of vitamin supplements was important. So even though Choice (A) may entice you, it isn’t the best answer because it doesn’t address the statistics used in the argument. Choice (B) doesn’t regard the survey results, either, and it supports the conclusion rather than weakens it. The argument has nothing at all to do with veterinarians, so Choice (E) can’t be right. Only Choices (C) and (D) deal with the survey the author uses to reach the conclusion that CatCo’s premium cat food will be a big seller.

You can eliminate answer choices that show an exception to the statistical evidence. Exceptions don’t significantly weaken a statistical argument.

Therefore, Choice (C) is wrong and Choice (D) is the best answer because it demonstrates a weakness in the statistics the author uses to support the conclusion. The preferences of dog or bird owners isn’t a good indicator of the habits of cat owners.

In a survey of 100 pet owners, 80 percent said that they would buy

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In a survey of 100 pet owners, 80 percent said that they would buy

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