argument167=美丽G程小组=小组第十一次作业=by岁月静好

岁月静好UID: 2738700

OPIC: ARGUMENT167 - A folk remedy* for insomnia, the scent in lavender flowers, has now been proved effective. In a recent study, 30 volunteers with chronic insomnia slept each night for three weeks on lavender-scented pillows in a controlled room where their sleep was monitored. During the first week, volunteers continued to take their usual sleeping medication. They slept soundly but wakened feeling tired. During the second week, the volunteers discontinued their medication. As a result, they slept less soundly than the previous week and felt even more tired. During the third week, the volunteers slept longer and more soundly than in the previous two weeks. This shows that over a short period of time lavender cures insomnia.

*A folk remedy is usually a plant-based form of treatment common to traditional forms of medicine, ones that developed before the advent of modern medical services and technology.
WORDS: 592
TIME: 00:50:00
DATE: 2010-1-24 0:04:15

In this argument, the author tries to prove that the scent in lavender flowers is effective to cure insomnia. To substantiate the conclusion, the author provides the study based on the observation that 30 volunteers with chronic insomnia slept on lavender-scent pillows in a supervised room for 3 weeks. The conclusion seems to be logical at the first glance while further examination reveals logical flaws of the argument.

To begin with, the author fails to provide any information about conditions of volunteers' insomnia concerns all details about the study that may affect the correct conclusion made from the observation. Firstly, shouldn't the definition of insomnia be regarded as whether a man fall asleep easily? The observation does not offer such information but wakened condition. Without such information, does the study effective on insomnia rather than just the study of quality of sleep? What is more, data of reaction of thirty volunteers to lavender-scent pillows might be too little to represent reactions of all patients, and single 3 weeks is also short period of time to determine the impact on insomnia considering insomnia is a long-term ailment. So, more information should the author provide to strengthen the conclusion.

Moreover, the author ignores other possible reasons that may lead to different qualities of sleep. For instance, the stress of work and different habits of life can significantly affect one's sleep. Just like a man feels less stressful at work, compared with a stressful man, probably be easier to fall asleep and sleep well. Without information about other conditions that can affect qualities of sleep, the conclusion of the study might be hasty.

What further weakens the conclusion of the author is the process conducted in the study, which is not confirmative to the effectiveness of the lavender-scent pillow. Firstly, with both lavender scent pillows and volunteers’ usual sleeping medication in the first week, the soundly sleep and tired waked feelings may be cause by either factor, it puzzles me that which one is the reason of two results, does the usual sleeping medication cause the soundly sleep? Is the lavender-scent pillows reason for the tired? Is the opposite available? We cannot separate effects that both medication and pillows may cause, even maybe together. Secondly, in the second week, after the abandon of usual sleeping medication, volunteers still sleep on lavender scent pillows feels different from the first week, should I assert that it is the medication cause the difference? Is the effect of medication countless in the second week? And if it is the medication cause less soundly sleep, is the pillows useless? It is hard to tell.
Last but not least, in the third week, the author does not provide information about both whether volunteers still discontinuing their usual sleeping medication and their wakened feelings. These are two essential aspects that the author must provide to confirm the effectiveness of the study. Because it is totally possible that it is the new medication the volunteers take or the freedom from effect of usual medication that lead to such results.

To sum up, as what I mentioned above, there are several logical flaws of the argument.
To make it logically acceptable, the author would have to demonstrate a sufficient study with solid fact and appropriate deduction. Such as information about other aspects that can also affect qualities of sleep and the utilization of medication as well as wakened feelings of volunteers in the third week. Furthermore, the author should also provide evidence to rule out all the above-mentioned possibilities that might weaken the argument.

岁月静好UID: 2738700

2# Bela1229
哎呀 昨天发完以后找了半天   我一直以为发的是AW呀，原来还是发错版面了……