argument 188求点评

kelvinwhuUID: 2778961

188.
A new report suggests that men and women experience pain very differently from one another, and that doctors should consider these differences when prescribing pain medications. When researchers administered the same dosage of kappa opioids -- a painkiller-- to 28 men and 20 women who were having their wisdom teeth extracted, the women reported feeling much less pain than the men, and the easing of pain lasted considerably longer in women. This research suggests that kappa opioids should be prescribed for women whenever pain medication is required, whereas men should be given other kinds of pain medication. In addition, researchers should reevaluate the effects of all medications on men versus women.

The argument is well presented but not well reasoned. Supported by the survey described above, the conclusion about kappa opioids seems logical but actually unpersuasive, so is the statement at the last of the argument. The author has failed to evaluate the survey’s reliablity and generalizability and over generalized the result based on a maybe not representative sample.
The evidence cited in the argument lends no strong support to the conclusion. The survey was conducted by self report and therefore the result might be unreliable ? it was probable that people merely reported the expected answer that kappa opioids did well to women while it didn’t to men. If the respondents were not honest, the evidence provided by the survey is not reliable of course and hence the conclusion makes no sense. In addition to the method the survey adopted, the number of respondents is also questionable. A survey containing merely several tens of respondents is not large enough to determine that the pain killer, kappa opioid, has different effects on male and female. It is possible that, all by chance or for some geographical reasons, all or most of the women are senseible to kappa opioids while the 20 chosen men are not. If so, obviously, one cann’t apply the limited conclusion that based on an unrepresentative sample to the general people.
Moreover, the author makes a suggestion that kappa opioids should be prescribed for women whenever pain medication is required and should not be given to men for its not satisfied effect, which seems reasonable at first but is actually lack of evidence—even if the survey is reliable, one is only given the fact that kappa opioids do well to pain caused by wisdom teeth extracting. Perhaps kappa opioid is invented to do with that kind of pain but may not work to other kinds, such as pain caused by cancer, wound, or brith. And one cann’t rule out the possibility that kappa opioids have the same effects between male and female or even do better when given to men, just given the evidnece cited above in the argument. If so, the suggestion is of course too hasty.
The statement at the last of the argument is also arguable. The suggestion that the effects of all medications on male versus female should be reevaluated can not be made with any date or survey mentioned in the argument, even if the kappa opioids do have different effects between different genders. What is known is all about the kappa opioid, a kind of painkiller, and there is no other medications are referred. Therefore the suggestion is lack of evidence to support it.For instance, one is ont given any evidence that the effect of some antibiotic is correlated to the patient’s gneder.
Overall, the author has overlooked some possible alternative causes for this phonomenon which can undermine the conclusion meanwhile and the conclusion is too hasty. The argument can be improved by more evidence and details.