Argument 161 【7\8\9\10】 7.27(第l七次作业) by general

general727UID: 2494818

TOPIC: ARGUMENT161 - In a study of reading habits of Leeville citizens conducted by the University of Leeville, most respondents said they preferred literary classics as reading material. However, a follow-up study conducted by the same researchers found that the type of book most frequently checked out of each of the public libraries in Leeville was the mystery novel. Therefore, it can be concluded that the respondents in the first study had misrepresented their reading habits.
WORDS: 352          TIME: 00:30:00          DATE: 2008-7-27 9:38:08

In this argument, the author claims that the first conducted by the University of Leeville was failed for the respondents had misrepresented their reading habits. To support his conclusion, he points out that in his second study the most frequently checked type of book is mystery novel, not the students said the literary classics. However, there are several logical flaws in this argument, which couldn't be guarantee of warrant.

The first problem of this argument is that there is no detail information of the respondents provided by the author and how did the study conducted. Perhaps the students are all like literary classics, so they won't misrepresent their reading habits. Or perhaps, the number of the respondents is too limited to represent the citizens of Leeville. Therefore, the existence of these possible reasons leads the conclusion unconvinced.

The second problem is that an un exact causality was built between that mystery novel is the type of book which is the most frequently checked out of each of the public libraries in Leeville and Leeville citizens like reading mystery novel. Because the author neglects some other possible ways, people can get the books they want from book store, internet service, the magazine stand and so on, not only get them from libraries.
Furthermore, since many people reading mystery novel are just for fun, they won't spend much money on it, they will prefer to borrow it from library, well the people like literary classics would like to buy it in order to study it carefully and deeply.

Even if the author can rule out all the possibilities above, the time for study is still doubtful. Maybe some novel books are popular in that time, so people want to read it at that time. Or perhaps, it is happened in summer vacation when people have plenty of time to read novel.

In sum, the conclusion given by the author is unconvinced. To make his opinion accepted by other, the author should provide exactly information about the respondents and the studying time. And the selling condition in book store and magazine stands, even the internet.