The growing popularity of computer-based activities was widely expected to result in a decline in television viewing, since it had...
GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions
The growing popularity of computer-based activities was widely expected to result in a decline in television viewing, since it had been assumed that people lack sufficient free time to maintain current television-viewing levels while spending increasing amounts of free time on the computer. That assumption, however, is evidently false: in a recent mail survey concerning media use, a very large majority of respondents who report increasing time spent per week using computers report no change in time spent watching television.
Which of the following would it be most useful to determine in order to evaluate the argument?
Passage Analysis:
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
| The growing popularity of computer-based activities was widely expected to result in a decline in television viewing, since it had been assumed that people lack sufficient free time to maintain current television-viewing levels while spending increasing amounts of free time on the computer. |
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| That assumption, however, is evidently false: in a recent mail survey concerning media use, a very large majority of respondents who report increasing time spent per week using computers report no change in time spent watching television. |
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Argument Flow:
"The argument starts by presenting a widely held assumption about computer use affecting TV viewing, then uses survey evidence to directly challenge and disprove that assumption."
Main Conclusion:
"The assumption that increased computer use leads to decreased TV viewing is false."
Logical Structure:
"Evidence-based contradiction: Survey data (most people who increased computer use didn't decrease TV watching) directly contradicts the logical assumption (limited free time means more computer use should equal less TV watching)."
Prethinking:
Question type:
Evaluate - We need to find what additional information would help us determine whether the argument's conclusion is sound
Precision of Claims
The argument claims that people who increased computer use report no change in TV viewing time, based on a mail survey of a 'very large majority' of respondents
Strategy
For evaluate questions, we need to think of assumptions the argument makes and create scenarios that would either strengthen or weaken the conclusion when we get more information. The conclusion is that the assumption about limited free time is false because survey respondents who use computers more haven't reduced TV time. We should look for gaps in this reasoning - what could make this survey evidence less reliable or what alternative explanations might exist?
This doesn't help evaluate the core argument. We already know that among those who increased computer use, most reported no change in TV time. Whether they watch TV regularly or not doesn't affect whether the assumption about limited free time is false - the key issue is whether increased computer time affected their TV time, regardless of their baseline TV habits.
This is comparing a different group (non-computer users) to our study group (increased computer users). The argument is specifically about whether increased computer use affects TV viewing, so what happens with people who don't use computers doesn't help us evaluate the validity of the survey evidence about computer users.
The argument is about quantity of TV viewing time, not the type of programs watched. Even if program preferences change, this doesn't affect whether the assumption about limited free time causing decreased TV viewing is true or false.
This is about the composition of the survey sample, but we already know the argument focuses on those who report increasing computer time. The percentage of computer owners who fall into this category doesn't change whether their reported behavior (no decrease in TV time) contradicts the original assumption.
This is crucial because the original assumption was about free time limitations - that people can't maintain both computer use and TV viewing in their limited free time. If respondents included work computer time, then their 'increased computer use' might not be taking away from free time at all, making the survey irrelevant to testing the free time assumption. If work time was excluded, then the survey genuinely tests whether increased free time computer use reduces TV time. This distinction is essential for determining whether the survey evidence actually supports the argument's conclusion.