argument Gter四月''无名''小组第6次作业-acmwyy

acmwyyUID: 2189302

TOPIC: ARGUMENT159 - The nation of Claria covers a vast physical area. But despite wide geographic differences, many citizens are experiencing rising costs of electricity. A recent study of household electric costs in Claria found that families who cooled their houses with fans alone spent more on electricity than did families using air conditioners alone for cooling. However, those households that reported using both fans and air conditioners spent less on electricity than those households that used either fans or air conditioners alone. Thus, the citizens of Claria should follow the study's recommendation and use both air conditioners and fans in order to save money on electricity.
WORDS: 597          TIME: 0:30:00          DATE: 2006-4-8

是否节省成本
是否满足顾客需求：占地，耗时，风扇对孩子危险，空调新鲜空气不足
不同地貌需求：太热的地方风扇不起作用，太冷的地方只需要空调加热
其他问题：统计，关心两个都有的家庭的真正原因，可能是先买了风扇，觉得不够用才再买空调

In this argument, the author recommends that in order to save money on electricity, the citizens of Claria should use both air conditioners and fans. The recommendation based on a recent survey which shows that families cooled their houses with fans along spent more on electricity than using air conditioners along. In order to substantiate his conclusion, the author cites that households that reported using both fans and air conditioners spent less on electricity than those used either fans or air conditioners along. A careful examination toward this argument, we will find it is not persuasive as it stands.

The major problem of this argument is that the author fails to take the cost of establish both fans and air conditioners. It is quite possible that setting up an extra set of cooler, no matter fans or air conditioners, will cost far more than they saved. The author fails to point out the cost to maintain the extra air cooler. It maybe cost a lot time and money to clean either of them and maintain them work well. In order to give sufficient information to support his recommendation, the author needs to provide accurate data to show the best way to save money.

We also need further information to proof that use both air conditioners and fans can satisfy customers' requirement. It is quite possible that establish both of them would take up too much space. And fans and air conditioners maybe make too much noise. In the family with children, fans are not safe if children play with them as well. Some family regard the health situation as an important figure of the house settling, they might find the air conditioners too dry or do not provide enough fresh air so they don't choose them. The author should take the customer's attitude into consideration when making the recommendation.

Even we accept the author's assumption that setting up both sets will save money for cooling. As the argument cites, Claria covers a vast physical area. In different environment the family may come to different demands. People who live in extremely hot area may lead to little effect of the fans because blowing does not solve the problem. And people who live in very cold area may not need fans at all. They just need air conditioners for hearting. Geographic differences cause different situations for the customers, so the author should deal with them separately.

We also need further information to discover why the family with both air coolers sets did so. It is quite likely because that they buy fans at first and later find they are insufficient, so the buy another air conditioners. It might be not reality for general customers.

We find no evidence to show the survey is informative as well. Who did the research and in which way the questions are conducted. Who participated in the investigation and whether is representative are open to doubt. In order to proof the author's recommendation, the argument should cover more information to show the validity of the survey.

In conclusion, in order to make this argument persuasive, the author should provide concrete evidence to show that the project he recommends really saves money. And he also needs to point out that customers agree with his recommendation. The geographic difference in Claria is important and the author needs to proof that his suggestion fits all the condition. The author also needs to provide concrete evidence such as random sampling to show the survey is valid as it sound. Otherwise, I will still keep my suspicion throughout the question.