A random survey of 1,000 people, all of whom moved over 2,000 miles

Question

A random survey of 1,000 people, all of whom moved over 2,000 miles away from a close friend over five years ago, found that in almost every case, those people who talked to their friend on the phone at least once a month were more likely to feel close to their friend five years later than were those who communicated only by electronic mail. Thus, a reliance on electronic mail as the primary means of communication can jeopardize a close long-distance friendship.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

A. Long-distance friends who speak on the phone monthly also tend to communicate via electronic mail.
B. The communication patterns of friendships increase around holidays and birthdays.
C. The individuals who only communicate with their long-distance friends via electronic mail tend to have closer relationships with their nearby friends (those living in the same town, village, or city) than do the individuals who speak with their long-distance friends monthly.
D. According to another study, most people can easily control the amount of time they spend on the phone with long-distance friends.
E. People in long-distance friendships sometimes grow apart because of diverging lifestyles, and so they stop making the effort to speak with their friend on the phone.

sayantanc2k · Accepted Answer

This is a typical structure for GMAT weaken type questions:

Observation: A and B are observed to happen together.
Conclusion: A causes B.

Weakening Statement: B causes A.

In the above question: 
A = Not talking over phone
B = grow apart in relation

The passage states that A and B are seen to happen together. Conclusion drawn is that A causes B.

Option E states that B causes A (Because they grow apart, they talk less, and not the other way round as concluded), thereby weakening the conclusion.

Option E is correct. OA added.

Nevernevergiveup · Answer

A random survey of 1,000 people, all of whom moved over 2,000 miles away from a close friend over five years ago, found that in almost every case, those people who talked to their friend on the phone at least once a month were more likely to feel close to their friend five years later than were those who communicated only by electronic mail. Thus, a reliance on electronic mail as the primary means of communication can jeopardize a close long-distance friendship.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

Just because one case is found better than other does not mean that other is worst.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously  weakens  the argument above?

A. Long-distance friends who speak on the phone monthly also tend to communicate via electronic mail.............. .this includes both as in B and does not help.

B. The communication patterns of friendships increase around holidays and birthdays.............. the communication includes both cases. out of scope.

C. The individuals who only communicate with their long-distance friends via electronic mail tend to have closer relationships with their  nearby friends  (those living in the same town, village, or city) than do the individuals who speak with their long-distance friends monthly..................out of scope as this speaks of nearby friends

D. According to another study, most people can easily control the amount of time they spend on the phone with long-distance friends.............. .this speaks of only phone and does not help either comparison or mail.

E. People in long-distance friendships sometimes grow apart because of diverging lifestyles, and so they stop making the effort to speak with their friend on the phone............... here only mail helps and thus weakens the argument.

samarendra · Answer

For option E ,I have a doubt. The passage clearly mentions that atleast once in a month person has to speak on phone.But option E mentions that they stop talking on phone. Then it should be out of scope. Can you please post the official answer ?

sun01 · Answer

A random survey of 1,000 people, all of whom moved over 2,000 miles away from a close friend over five years ago, found that in almost every case, those people who talked to their friend on the phone at least once a month were more likely to feel close to their friend five years later than were those who communicated only by electronic mail. Thus, a reliance on electronic mail as the primary means of communication can jeopardize a close long-distance friendship.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

A. Long-distance friends who speak on the phone monthly also tend to communicate via electronic mail.
B. The communication patterns of friendships increase around holidays and birthdays.
C. The individuals who only communicate with their long-distance friends via electronic mail tend to have closer relationships with their nearby friends (those living in the same town, village, or city) than do the individuals who speak with their long-distance friends monthly.
D. According to another study, most people can easily control the amount of time they spend on the phone with long-distance friends.
E. People in long-distance friendships sometimes grow apart because of diverging lifestyles, and so they stop making the effort to speak with their friend on the phone.

Argument concludes with the statement that electronic mail doesn't help to maintain the long distance friendship.

to weaken the argument, we have to find out the statements that shows either advantages with electronic mails or disadvantages with problems with phone friendship.

Option E identifies the weakness and hence included as a premise then entire argument will be weakened.

Option C, tends to compare different things. it says that people communicating with their long-distance friends via electronic mail can have more closer friends in same town than do other people.

So, option E is the answer.

KS15 · Answer

Sorry, but I dont agree with this. Just because phone is not good does not mean email is good. It is no where mentioned in E that email is good. Only A looks best of all.

HKD1710 · Answer

Providing a new cause to a cause-effect relationship weakens it. This is what choice E does.

conclusion says reliance on electronic mail jeopardize friendship i.e.
Cause   ---> Effect

Choice E : Another Cause   ---> Same effect

sleepynut · Answer

Hi experts,
In my 2 cents,the correct option should be A as it casts doubt on the effect of the mobile phone to long-distance relation.It could be that electronic mail is indeed what strengthen the relationships since those who use mobile phone also communicate with their close friends via email.

B is plainly out of scope.

C is also out of scope.The argument is about the long-distance relation;however,this option discuss about the effect of types of communication to the proximate relation.

D is again out of scope.We know nothing about the correlation between time and each means of communication.

E is out of scope.This option focuses on people who don't make a call to their friend,but no clue to relate this information with our argument.They may not at all contact with their distant friends.

There is no OA for this question,and I am not sure with my reasoning.
Please help validate :-)

Regards

Regards

ameyaagrawal · Answer

In simple words, argument Says A causes B 
We can weaken it by saying B causes A or X causes A

Statement E does the same. It says B causes A 
Lack of phone communication don't cause the friends to grow apart, but friends grow apart leading to lack of communication

fireagablast · Answer

Reluctantly picked E because the others were more justifiably wrong.
My thinking is that E provides a different explanation as to why people who talk only via email tend to be less close over time.
E suggests that the reason people stop being close is due to diverging lifestyles, not because they only communicate via email.

namanqqkm · Answer

can you help me understand why not A?  egmat

guddo · Answer

A random survey of 1,000 people, all of whom moved over 2,000 miles away from a close friend over five years ago, found that in almost every case, those people who talked to their friend on the phone at least once a month were more likely to feel close to their friend five years later than were those who communicated only by electronic mail. Thus, a reliance on electronic mail as the primary means of communication can jeopardize a close long-distance friendship.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

The survey shows a correlation: people who call monthly tend to feel closer later than people who use only email. The argument then treats that correlation as proof that relying on email causes friendships to weaken.

(A) Long-distance friends who speak on the phone monthly also tend to communicate via electronic mail.

This does not seriously weaken the argument. It only says phone callers also email, but it does not explain why the email-only group ends up less close.

(B) The communication patterns of friendships increase around holidays and birthdays.

This is neutral. Both groups could increase communication at those times, so it does not explain the difference in closeness.

(C) The individuals who only communicate with their long-distance friends via electronic mail tend to have closer relationships with their nearby friends than do the individuals who speak with their long-distance friends monthly.

This is about other friendships, not the long-distance friendship being evaluated, so it does not attack the conclusion.

(D) According to another study, most people can easily control the amount of time they spend on the phone with long-distance friends.

This is irrelevant. Controlling phone time does not tell us what causes closeness to change.

(E) People in long-distance friendships sometimes grow apart because of diverging lifestyles, and so they stop making the effort to speak with their friend on the phone.

This most seriously weakens the argument because it gives a reverse explanation: people grow apart first, and that is why they stop calling and end up relying on email. So email-only can be the result of drifting apart, not the cause, which is  reverse causation .

Answer: (E)

agrasan · Answer

A random survey of 1,000 people, all of whom moved over 2,000 miles away from a close friend over five years ago, found that in almost every case, those people who talked to their friend on the phone at least once a month were more likely to feel close to their friend five years later than were those who communicated only by electronic mail. Thus, a reliance on electronic mail as the primary means of communication can jeopardize a close long-distance friendship.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

A. Long-distance friends who speak on the phone monthly also tend to communicate via electronic mail.
 Incorrect , the argument clearly says  "a reliance on electronic mail as the  primary means  of communication can jeopardize a close long-distance friendship."  but this option talks about people who use phone as well as electronic mail.

B. The communication patterns of friendships increase around holidays and birthdays.
 Incorrect , so what? We don't learn anything new that will reduce our confidence that the electronic mail as a primary means won't jeopardize a close long-distance friendship.

C. The individuals who only communicate with their long-distance friends via electronic mail tend to have closer relationships with their nearby friends (those living in the same town, village, or city) than do the individuals who speak with their long-distance friends monthly.
 Incorrect , the argument is strictly about  long -distance friends, we only learn about  nearby  friends in this option.

D. According to another study, most people can easily control the amount of time they spend on the phone with long-distance friends.
 Incorrect , so what? We don't learn anything new that will reduce our confidence that the electronic mail as a primary means won't jeopardize a close long-distance friendship.

E. People in long-distance friendships sometimes grow apart because of diverging lifestyles, and so they stop making the effort to speak with their friend on the phone.
 Correct , this introduces an alternative reason that diverging lifestyles can be responsible to jeopardize the long-distance friendship, thus weakens our confidence that the electronic mail as a primary means jeopardizes a close long-distance friendship.

egmat · Answer

The argument's logic: 
Phone callers feel closer → Email-only users don't →  Conclusion:  Relying on email  as the primary means  of communication jeopardizes friendships.
The author assumes: email as the  primary  channel is  causing  the weaker friendship.

Why (A) doesn't weaken: 
(A) says: "People who call monthly  also  use email."

You're probably thinking: "See? Email users also exist in the phone group, so email isn't the problem!" But notice the keyword in the conclusion:  primary .

For the phone group, email is a  secondary  channel - their primary communication is phone calls. (A) is perfectly consistent with the argument: "Email is fine as a supplement - it's when email becomes your  primary  channel that friendships suffer."

(A) doesn't touch the conclusion at all. On the GMAT,  one word can make an entire answer choice irrelevant  - always match the answer back to the  exact  conclusion.

Why (E) works: 
(E) attacks the argument at its root - the  causal direction .
The author says: Email as primary → weaker friendship ( email causes the drift )

(E) flips it: Weaker friendship → stop calling → email becomes primary ( the drift causes the email-only pattern )
People who were  already growing apart  stopped bothering to call - they didn't grow apart  because  of email. The email-only pattern is a  symptom , not the  cause .

Takeaway:  Whenever a GMAT argument says "X causes Y" based on a correlation, always check - could Y be causing X instead? Or could A be causing X and Y instead?

A random survey of 1,000 people, all of whom moved over 2,000 miles

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A random survey of 1,000 people, all of whom moved over 2,000 miles

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