Jaime: The life span for both African and Asian elephants is much shor

Question

Jaime: The life span for both African and Asian elephants is much shorter in zoos than in the national reserve parks. Studies have proven this by comparing the life spans of elephants in zoos to the life spans of elephants in nature reserves in both Kenya and Myanmar. Thus, our government should take a serious look at how zoos treat their elephants and possibly implement a temporary ban on the acquisition of new elephants until this issue is resolved.

Eleanor: But both the reserves you mention are protected areas where the animals do not face the threat of poaching and other unnatural dangers. Also, the data in those studies go back more than 40 years and do not take into account more recent advances in captive animal care that will most definitely extend the life spans of elephants currently in zoos.

Eleanor’s rejection of Jaime’s conclusion employs which one of the following techniques of argumentation?

(A) Producing a single contradicting example that establishes that a stated generalization is false

(B) Questioning the validity of a conclusion because the supporting statements cannot be experimentally verified

(C) Pointing out that potentially more favorable evidence exists that has been neglected

(D) Rejecting a problematic correlation and a potential variance shift with relation to the supporting statements that underlie the conclusion

(E) Reanalyzing the underlying assumptions and pursuing a wider data sampling that underlie the conclusion

Bunuel · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Answer: D

STEP 1: Read the question and identify your task. 
This is a Describe question. It asks you to find the answer that accurately describes the argumentation technique that Eleanor uses to make her case.

STEP 2: Read the argument with your task in mind. 
The subject of this conversation between Jaime and Eleanor is the life span of elephants in captivity. Jaime’s conclusion is based on studies that show that elephants living in two protected reserve parks in Kenya and Myanmar live longer than those that live in zoos. Eleanor’s argument is (1) that zoos are painted in a bad light because the elephants in parks don’t face the same dangers as elephants in the wild and (2) that the studies that Jaime cites on zoos are outdated.

STEP 3: Know what you’re looking for. 
Eleanor discards the premises that Jaime uses to reach his conclusion—namely, the link between living in a reserve park and a longer life, as well as the studies he cites, which she says are obsolete.

STEP 4: Read every word of every answer choice. 
Regarding answer A, Eleanor does not offer such an example, so it cannot be your answer. For answer B, Eleanor does not question the conclusion, only how Jaime reached it. Also, she does not question the verity of his data, only his choice of data population. Answer C says that Eleanor is trying to bolster Jaime’s argument, which is definitely not the case. Answer D states that Eleanor rejects the correlation between the zoos and nature reserves that Jaime chose to make his argument and that changing his data pool will affect Jaime’s supporting statements that led to his conclusion. These both seem to be exactly what Eleanor is doing with her argument. Answer E is partially correct in that she is questioning his assumptions, but she is not pursuing a wider data sampling but a different data sample altogether. Therefore, answer D is the correct choice.

Prakruti_Patil · Answer

regarding D -- it states the correlation is incorrect, however Eleanor is pointing out difference in zoos 40 years ago and now, isn't that comparison rather than correlation?

guddo · Answer

Good doubt.

(D) does  not require denying that a correlation exists . It refers to rejecting the force of a correlation by pointing out problems in how it is used.

Eleanor accepts that zoos had shorter life spans. But she argues the comparison is distorted because the reserves are unusually safe and the data are outdated. That means the observed relationship may not reflect  the relevant current conditions .

So she is challenging the validity of the correlation as evidence, not denying that a comparison was made. That fits (D).

Jaime: The life span for both African and Asian elephants is much shor

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Jaime: The life span for both African and Asian elephants is much shor

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615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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