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 t

The article in a business magazine makes an argument for hiring only people who need less than 6 hours of sleep per night to improve profits and growth. It supports the argument with the help of recent study conducted on advertising executives. However, there are number of assumptions made in the argument that need to be critically analyzed in order for conclusion to be sound.

Firstly, there is the assumption that the sample size of the study is comprehensive enough in order to drawn an association between amount of sleep and success of the firms. The 300 male and female executives chosen may be a very small sample size. May be there are more executives who take adequate rest by sleeping for more than 6 hours and perform better than those surveyed, but are not included in the survey. These people may be actually responsible for success.This will make both assumption and consequent association unwarranted, and there by the argument becomes flawed.

Secondly, there is an assumption that the higher profit margins and faster growth in advertising firms studied is because of executive who donot need more than 6 hours of sleep. This can be misinterpreting correlation as causation. Just because both occur at same time does not mean one leads to another. There can be number of other reasons for improved success of the firms. It can be due to use of new machinery, experienced employees, better working conditions, etc. The argument does not provide enough evidence to preclude any of the other reasons. Without such an evidence the assumption may prove unwarranted and make the argument flawed.

Thirdly, even if the above assumption is warranted, there is another assumption that what happens in a advertising firm holds true for any business. May be other business requirements different from advertising agencies. Some may even need their employees to work during the night and sleep during the day. The success of these business does not in any manner depend on the number of hours an employee sleeps at night. By associating profits and progress of these businesses to hiring only people who need less than 6 hours of sleep per night may prove to be counter productive.This in turn makes the assumption flawed.

In conclusion, for the argument made to be sound, there is need for further evidence to ensure that assumptions made are warranted. Otherwise, argument can become flawed.