Like most other coastal towns in Norway, the town of
Stavanger was quiet and peaceful until the early 1960's,
when it became Norway's center for offshore oil
exploration. Between then and now, violent crime and
vandalism in Stavanger have greatly increased.
Stavanager's social problems probably resulted from the
oil boom, since violent crime and vandalism have
remained low in coastal towns in Norway that have had
no oil boom.
Which of the following most accurately describes the
method of reasoning employed in the argument?
(A) Arguing that a circumstance is not a precondition
for a phenomenon on the grounds that the
phenomenon sometimes occurs where the
circumstance is not present
(B) Arguing that a circumstance is a cause of a
phenomenon on the grounds that the
phenomenon has not occurred where the
circumstance is not present
(C) Arguing that a particular thing cannot have
caused a phenomenon because that thing was not
present before the phenomenon occurred
(D) Attempting to establish a claim by arguing that
the denial of the claim is inconsistent with the
observed facts
(E) Attempting to establish that certain circumstances
that would have had to occur for a particular
explanation to be correct could not have occurred