The administrators of a music downloading website were worried that th

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

a13ssandra · Answer

It was B for me. I dont understand how E can be correct, that would only support the argument.

gabriel87 · Answer

Hi aditya8062,

My doubt on choice (E) is that, if existing customers are exclusively music aficionados then there is no point in adding movies to the website. Even if you add movies to the website, the existing customers will not view the movie so the traffic will not increase it. Unless some new movie fans view the site.

Please correct me if i am wrong.

Thanks,
Gabriel

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.

newconcept123 · Answer

let me give a try:
The premise one: is the downloadable movie will diminish the popularity of website?
The premise two (a survey): is adding movie will increase interest?
The conclusion: adding movie would not increase traffic due to low purchasing of movies

For me, premises are difficult to correlate.
does popularity equal traffic? 
does purchasing movies have correlation with interest?

From my point of view, there can be quite a few flaws:
for example, website's popularity is increasing but traffic is decreasing because website is known from TV advertisment
purchasing movies will not increase interest, as the cost is high
But looking at the answer choices, i find out that ABCD didn't attack any flaws but E did.
E pointed out that the wrong samples is a flaw in the reasoning.
What?! wrong sample is a reasoning flaw?
maybe someone can answer as i didn't find it in the list of reasoning flaws

thanks

newconcept123 · Answer

Ok, i found it in the CR bible:
the type of flaw is "survey errors"
the survey uses a biased sample

saikiransomala · Answer

Hi,

The survey result states that the only few existing users prefer downloading movies.

Option E: The entire gamet of current users are serious music lovers. So the survey was done with wrong set of respondents. The survey should represent various categories rather than just a skewed category.

Regards

thanhtam0102 · Answer

Premise: Increase interest to their site – survey their existing customers about adding films download – a small % of these customers showed interest.
Conclusion: Adding movies not increase significantly their website’s visited. 
Choice A, C and D are out of scope.
Choice B “likely” show that the customers are unsure will purchase movies or not. It can increase slightly or increase significantly.
Choice E is correct since it is much clearer to show that their existing customers are exclusively music’s fans. It means they do not pay attention about movies, and the administrators do not know the opinion of other customers to draw a conclusion.

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.

exsoldierz · Answer

Music downloading website = people go to there just for music and not movies (E)
So the downtrend in music download can be solved by " adding more movies"
which is a very flawed reasoning.

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.

D4498 · Answer

Can anyone explain why b is not an answer?

Posted from my mobile device

rak08 · Answer

its because,
current users are not the only source of traffic and they do not represent a universal sample as they are filled with only music buffs.

hence when they say they surveyed music buffs and reached X conclusion, what about the new users who might like movies? they can increase the traffic
and if they only cared about existing users that wont "increase" the traffic that would just maintain it.

rak08 · Answer

even though music people are as likely to like movies strengthens it, it isnt a flaw.
rather it negates the premise, if they were as likely to like the movies then why would the survey say otherwise?

The administrators of a music downloading website were worried that th

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The administrators of a music downloading website were worried that th

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