ARGUMENT200【Aero小组】第15次作业

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题目：ARGUMENT200 - Statistics collected from dentists indicate that three times more men than women faint while visiting the dentist. This evidence suggests that men are more likely to be distressed about having dental work done than women are. Thus, dentists who advertise to attract patients should target the male consumer and emphasize both the effectiveness of their anesthetic techniques and the sensitivity of their staff to nervous or suffering patients.
字数：431          用时：00:30:00          日期：2008-2-20 10:30:46

In this argument, by citing the fact that three times more men than women faint while visiting the dentist, the author reaches the conclusion that men are more likely than women to be distressed about having dental work done. Thus, in order to attract more patients, the author recommends the dentists to target the male consumer and emphasize both the effectiveness of their anesthetic techniques and the sensitivity of their staff to nervous. While the argument seems somewhat convincing, yet a careful examination of the analysis reveals that it suffers from several critical flaws.

Firstly, the author does not provide any details of the statistics, on the other hand, he only cites the result that three times more men than women faint while visiting the dentist. Thus we can imagine that in this study the male patients' illnesses are more severe than the female patients. In this case, when having the dental work done, they must suffer more pains than the females do and it is no wonder they may faint more times than women. If this scenario stands, the author's recommendation is useless to attract more patients.

Secondly, even assuming that men are more distressed in this process. The author neglects the possibility that there may be much less male patients than the female ones. It is entirely possible that only several men visit dentist every year and they all faint while having the dental work done. Therefore, only the attracting to males cannot bring more patients and may lose the majority groups -- female ones. Then, in this case, the author's conclusion is open to doubt.

Thirdly, even exclude all the scenarios above, we cannot believe the emphasis on the effectiveness and the sensitivity will make the male patients feel comfortable. As common sense tells me that when the doctor shows more sensitivities the patients will feel more nervous. Thus, this emphasis is helpless, and may even prevent the males to come to this clinic.

Finally, there are many other positive methods which will bring about more patients to the dentists. For example, the lower price of the dental work, the better services provided to the patients, etc. However, the author neglects these possibilities.

To sum up, this argument lacks credibility because the evidence cited in the analysis cannot lend strong support to what the author claims. Unless the author can provide more facts to persuade us that men are more likely to be distressed and that the emphasis on the techniques will attract more and more male patients, then the author's concerning about these issues can be grounded.