The following appeared as part of an article in a business magazine.
"A recent study rating 300 male and female Mentian advertising executives according to the average number of hours they sleep per night showed an association between the amount of sleep the executives need and the success of their firms. Of the advertising firms studied, those whose executives reported needing no more than 6 hours of sleep per night had higher profit margins and faster growth. These results suggest that if a business wants to prosper, it should hire only people who need less than 6 hours of sleep per night."
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
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By analyzing the statistics the author concludes that there exists a positive correlation between the sleep hours of the executives and the success of the company. However, close examination shows that the statistics are questionable and the arguments leading to the conclusion is not logically sound.
1. The article does not give an exact number of those executives who need no more than 6 hours of sleep per night and help boost faster profit growth of their company.
- It is possible that there is only one such an executive. Under such circumstance, the sample is not big enough to indicate a link between the hours of sleep of the executive and the company growth.
2. The article does not specify the distribution of gender among those people who sleep less and have a more prosperous company.
- This link might only apply to male executives or female executives.
- The author needs to show that among those people who demonstrate a possible link between sleep hours and company success, there are about an equal number of male and female.
3. Even if there is an correlation between the sleep hours per night of the executive officer and the prosperity of the company, it is unclear which is the cause and which is the effect from the study. It is possible that those companies that are more prosperous keep the executives busier, therefore they show a lack of sleep.
4. It is also possible that some other factor has caused both a reduced time in sleep and the success of the company. For example, some executives could more diligent, and thus sleeps less and help the company grow faster. In other words, someone who is not diligent but only sleep less for some other reasons will not cause the company to grow faster
5. The study only surveyed executives in advertising field. Even if the author's conclusion is true for the advertising executives, there is no guarantee it applies to other business areas as well
6. Different people could even define the hours they sleep differently.
- The hours of sleep is self-reported by the executives
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argument 1 -- OK
argument 2 -- not OK //it is not related to gender
argument 3 -- OK
argument 4 -- OK
argument 5 -- OK
argument 6 -- not OK //we don't cast doubts on the survey it self.
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Let's analyze the structure of the statement:
condition 1:
A recent study rating 300 male and female Mentian advertising executives according to the average number of hours they sleep per night showed an association between the amount of sleep the executives need and the success of their firms.//
1. Your argument 1
2. Suppose we know the exact number, the sample is not big enough, it has only 300 people
condition 2:
Of the advertising firms studied, those whose executives reported needing no more than 6 hours of sleep per night had higher profit margins and faster growth. // Your argument 3 and 4, maybe more:
Businesses growth does not depend just on its employee sleep patterns, it is also highly determined by other factors like:
*popularity among its customers,
*quality of the product delivered
*integrity
...
conclusion:
These results suggest that if a business wants to prosper, it should hire only people who need less than 6 hours of sleep per night. //remember we always need to argue against the conclusion.
1. People who sleep over 6 hours still can succeed
2. Fixing this number 6 is questionable since there can be people who require still less number of hours yet perform better.
3. Suppose it is working for advertising business, it can't apply to all business //your argument 5