A survey of charitable giving in the state found that the

Question

A survey of charitable giving in the state found that the average dollar amount contributed annually by residents of urban areas to programs for the homeless was $15 greater than the amount contributed by residents of rural areas. The survey’s creators, an urban-promotion group known as Live in the City, concluded that city dwellers are on average more generous than residents of rural areas.

EACH of the following, if true, casts doubt on the conclusion of the survey’s creators EXCEPT

A)An unrelated survey of annual charitable giving finds that residents of rural areas give 3% less to charity than residents of urban areas.
B)There are more homeless people in urban areas than rural areas, making it more likely that urban residents would contribute to those charities.
C)There are more charities in general operating in urban areas than in rural areas.
D)The survey is calculated based on dollar amount rather than percentage of income, and does not account for the fact that incomes in urban areas are often higher.
E)The group Live in the City has been known to alter survey results for marketing purposes.

Zarrolou · Accepted Answer

My take here is A:

A)An unrelated survey of annual charitable giving finds that residents of rural areas give 3% less to charity than residents of urban areas. 
This supports the conclusion, which states that urban dwellers are more generous. Even if in this particular case urban dwellers donated more, this additional info supports the hypotesis that urban residents are in fact more generous.
 B)There are more homeless people in urban areas than rural areas, making it more likely that urban residents would contribute to those charities. 
Since the program in the passage is about homeless people, urban residents are more likely to donate to that cause. But we cannot generalize saying that they are more generous in general. This weakens the conclusion.
 C)There are more charities in general operating in urban areas than in rural areas. 
This could translate in more opportunities to donate, and in this case urban dwellers could donate more not because they are generous, but because they have more possibilities to do so.
I saw a lot of Cs before my post, and here is why I think is not correct:
I go out every day with 5$, willing to donate them. If I live in the city, I can find more charities and I can donate them easily; but if I live in a rural area I cannot (take the case in which there is only one charity organization). Does this mean that I am less generous if I live in the rural area? I don't think so...
This is why IMO C casts doubts on the conclusion.
 D)The survey is calculated based on dollar amount rather than percentage of income, and does not account for the fact that incomes in urban areas are often higher. 
The first part (before the comma) points out that the dollar amount is not a good estimator of the generosity compared to a percentage indicator.
The second part gives credit to the fact that, because incomes in the urban area are higher, the "15 $ difference" should not transalate into more generosity.
 E)The group Live in the City has been known to alter survey results for marketing purposes. 
Since the group is an "urban-promotion group" it could alter the results in favor of the city.

Carcass · Answer

The answer should be C

Each choice is related to the amount of donations or the survey carried out.

C instead talk of number of charities in an area

marcovg4 · Answer

My choice is C.

We are looking for the odd one out, C talks about the number of charities, which has no bearing on whether the conclusion can be flawed. Other choices do.

cumulonimbus · Answer

Carcass,
On reading ur response the first thought that comes to my mind is 'so what?'
Can u explain in more details?

mal208213 · Answer

A is the answer IMO, here question is to strengthen the conclusion

C--> more charities does not imply greater value of contribution in fact the average $ value may also reduce.

ronr34 · Answer

A actually negates, but C looks like it's irrelevant.
Can anyone weigh in?

setieroth · Answer

C should not be correct.

Basically Live In The City attributes "more donation in urban" to "urban people are more generous", yet C suggests that "more donation in urban" could be caused by another fact that " it is easier for urban people to make donation due to more charity opportunities". Therefore, C weakens.

sairam595 · Answer

Dear Experts,

Please explain why option D is incorrect!

chetan2u · Answer

hi  sairam95 ,
 D also weakens the argument..
The survey claims that urban people are more generous because they donate more..
 Generous has to be related to income.. 
Say average income per urban person is $1000, whereas in rural areas it is $200..
the urban donates $150 on an average, whereas rural person donates $100, 
 Here although urban people donate more BUT the % of income being donated is much higher for rural.. 100/200 to 150/1000.. 
so may be rural guys are more generous

nycgirl212 · Answer

question asks "4 choices weaken conclusion, 1 does not, which one does not weaken?"

a - yes, rural residents give less to charity.    strengthens  the conclusion  
b - something other than kindness (i.e. more homeless ppl thus more exposed to it so more likely to give) is causing urban residents to give more to charity.   thus,  weakens  the belief that urban residents give bc they are kinder. they are giving bc they see more homeless.  
c - something other than kindness (i.e. more charities in operation) is causing urban residents to give more to charity.   thus,  weakens  the belief that urban residents give bc they are kinder  
d - urban ppl give more bc they are rich, not because they are kind.   thus,  weakens  the belief that urban residents give bc they are kinder  
e - survey not reliable, so claim that urban ppl give more bc they are kind could be a lie    weakens

chesstitans · Answer

there is a similar question with the same topic, but the answer is C because the question is weaken question.
Here, because of "Except", A is correct

abhishekdadarwal2009 · Answer

A survey of charitable giving in the state found that the average dollar amount contributed annually by residents of urban areas to programs for the homeless was $15 greater than the amount contributed by residents of rural areas. The survey’s creators, an urban-promotion group known as Live in the City, concluded that city dwellers are on average more generous than residents of rural areas.

EACH of the following, if true, casts doubt on the conclusion of the survey’s creators EXCEPT

A)An unrelated survey of annual charitable giving finds that residents of rural areas give 3% less to charity than residents of urban areas.  the alternate survey also find the ame thing and thus this is the correct answer.
 B)There are more homeless people in urban areas than rural areas, making it more likely that urban residents would contribute to those charities.  the argument concludes that the urban populatio are more generaous and not about the number of homeless people them selves.
 C)There are more charities in general operating in urban areas than in rural areas.  weakness the conclusion
 D)The survey is calculated based on dollar amount rather than percentage of income, and does not account for the fact that incomes in urban areas are often higher. weakens the conclusion
 E)The group Live in the City has been known to alter survey results for marketing purposes. this casts doubt on the conclusion of the survey

Priyadarshana · Answer

A survey of charitable giving in the state found that the average dollar amount contributed annually by residents of urban areas to programs for the homeless was $15 greater than the amount contributed by residents of rural areas. The survey’s creators, an urban-promotion group known as Live in the City, concluded that city dwellers are on average more generous than residents of rural areas.

EACH of the following, if true, casts doubt on the conclusion of the survey’s creators EXCEPT

A)An unrelated survey of annual charitable giving finds that residents of rural areas give 3% less to charity than residents of urban areas. - Correct.
B)There are more homeless people in urban areas than rural areas, making it more likely that urban residents would contribute to those charities. - this weakens the conclusion
C)There are more charities in general operating in urban areas than in rural areas. - if there are more charities operating in urban than in rural areas, the dollar amount collected in urban areas would be more than the amount collected in rural areas. Hence, it is not that the city dwellers are more generous. Option C states another reason as to why the dollar amount is greater in urban areas.
D)The survey is calculated based on dollar amount rather than percentage of income, and does not account for the fact that incomes in urban areas are often higher. - income is greater in urban areas and hence the dollar amount collected is greater
E)The group Live in the City has been known to alter survey results for marketing purposes. - so the survey conducted is inaccurate. This weakens the argument

IMO A

For the above reasons

dhruvasv5 · Answer

Option A, strengthens the fact that the survey conducted yielded correct results. All other other options gives a reason to doubt the reasoning behind urban dwellers not contributing as much as city dwellers.

VerbalBot · Answer

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