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In this argument, the arguer recommends all the patients who are diagnosed with muscle strain take antibiotics as part of their treatment. To support this recommendation, the director cites a study of two groups of patients showing that patients took antibiotics recuperate more quickly than those who took sugars. This argument is flawed in several critical respects. A threshold problem with the argument involves the statistical reliability of the survey. There is no concrete information such as age, gender and mood, about patients in different groups, which may cause confusion about the conclusion of the study. For instance, maybe most of the patients in the first group are around twenty years old, while those in the second group are around fifty. The difference in their ages may contribute to the result that patients in the first group recover more quickly only because they are younger. Even if the factors such as age, gender and mood of the patients are equally controlled between the two groups, there still exists another variable which may result in the outcome that patients in the first group recover faster than those in the second. Patients in the first group were treated for muscle injuries by Dr. Newland, a doctor who specialized in sports medicine, and the second group were treated by Dr. Alton, a general physician. This difference between the two experiment conditions comes out as a confounding variable of the result in the study. Maybe it is because Dr. Newland is more specialized than Dr. Alton that patients in group one recover more quickly than group two. Finally, the arguer concludes that all the patients who are diagnosed with muscle strain are well advised to take antibiotics when being treated. He draws this conclusion only based on this study, and consumes that patients in the study represent all the patients who are diagnosed with muscle strain. However, there exists some other factors should be considered, for example, whether the bodies of a patients resist antibiotics itself. If so, doctors should not give antibiotics to their patients. In sum, the study's statistical reliability and its experiment condition are questionable. To strengthen the recommendation, the arguer must provide clear information about the patients in the study and let only one doctor to conduct experiment in both of the groups. The arguer should not suggest that all the patients who are diagnosed with muscle strain are well suggested to take antibiotics. |