The average amount of overtime per month worked by an employee in the manufacturing division of the Haglut Corporation is...
GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions
The average amount of overtime per month worked by an employee in the manufacturing division of the Haglut Corporation is 14 hours. Most employees of the Haglut Corporation work in the manufacturing division. Furthermore, the average amount of overtime per month worked by any employee in the company generally does not fluctuate much from month to month. Therefore, each month, most employees of the Haglut Corporation almost certainly work at least some overtime.
The debater's argument is most vulnerable to criticism on which of these grounds?
Passage Analysis:
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| The average amount of overtime per month worked by an employee in the manufacturing division of the Haglut Corporation is 14 hours. |
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| Most employees of the Haglut Corporation work in the manufacturing division. |
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| Furthermore, the average amount of overtime per month worked by any employee in the company generally does not fluctuate much from month to month. |
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| Therefore, each month, most employees of the Haglut Corporation almost certainly work at least some overtime. |
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Argument Flow:
The argument moves from specific data (manufacturing division averages 14 hours overtime) to company demographics (most employees work in manufacturing) to a stability claim (overtime doesn't fluctuate much) and finally to a broad conclusion about individual employee behavior.
Main Conclusion:
Each month, most employees of the Haglut Corporation almost certainly work at least some overtime.
Logical Structure:
The argument tries to jump from average overtime data to conclusions about individual employees. Just because the manufacturing division averages 14 hours doesn't mean most individual employees work overtime - a few people could be working tons of overtime while others work none. The argument confuses what averages tell us versus what individual behavior looks like.
Prethinking:
Question type:
Flaw/Vulnerability - This is asking us to identify the logical weakness in the argument's reasoning
Precision of Claims
The argument deals with averages (14 hours), proportions (most employees), and frequency claims (each month, almost certainly)
Strategy
We need to find the gap between what the premises actually support and what the conclusion claims. The argument jumps from average overtime data to a claim about individual employees. We should look for scenarios that show how averages can be misleading when making claims about individuals.
This choice suggests the argument assumes manufacturing is typical regarding overtime. However, the argument doesn't rely on manufacturing being representative of other divisions. Since most employees work in manufacturing, the argument can proceed even if manufacturing is atypical - it's making claims about the company based on where most people actually work.
This choice describes the argument as confusing company-wide averages with manufacturing division averages. But the argument actually moves in the opposite direction - from manufacturing data to company conclusions. The argument doesn't make claims about manufacturing based on company averages, so this reverses the actual flow of reasoning.
This choice suggests the argument confuses necessity with probability. While the conclusion does use 'almost certainly,' this doesn't capture the core logical flaw. The real problem isn't about the strength of the conclusion but about the fundamental gap between what averages show and what individual behavior looks like.
This choice perfectly identifies the statistical fallacy at the heart of the argument. Just because manufacturing employees average 14 hours of overtime doesn't mean most individuals work some overtime. The average could result from a small number of people working extensive overtime while many others work none. This directly explains why we can't conclude that 'most employees work at least some overtime' from average data.
This choice focuses on month-to-month variation for individual employees, but the argument already addresses consistency by stating that averages don't fluctuate much. The real flaw isn't about temporal variation but about the relationship between averages and individual participation.