Critical Reasoning

Which of the following best completes the passage below? In a survey of job applicants, two-fifths admitted to being at least a little dishonest. However, the survey may underestimate the proportion of job applicants who are dishonest, because ____.

To evaluate a plan to save money on office space expenditures by having its employees work at home, XYZ Company asked volunteers from its staff to try the assignment for six months. During this period, the productivity of these employees was as high or higher than before. Which of the following, if true, would argue most strongly against deciding on the basis of the trial results, to implement the company's plan?

Property taxes are typically set at a flat rate per $1,000 of officially assessed value. Reassessments should be frequent in order to remove distortions that arise when property values change at differential rates. In practice, however, reassessments typically occur when they benefit the government�that is, when their effect is to increase total tax revenue. If the statements above are true, which of the following describes a situation in which a reassessment should occur but is unlikely to do so?

A proposed change to federal income tax laws would eliminate deductions from taxable income for donations a taxpayer has made to charitable and educational institutions. If this change were adopted, wealthy individuals would no longer be permitted such deductions. Therefore, many charitable and educational institutions would have to reduce services, and some would have to close their doors. B Money contributed by individuals who make their donations because of provisions in the federal tax laws provides the only source of funding for many charitable and educational institutions. C The primary reason for not adopting the proposed change in the federal income tax laws cited above is to protect wealthy individuals from having to pay higher taxes. D Wealthy individuals who donate money to charitable and educational institutions are the only individuals who donate money to such institutions. E Income tax laws should be changed to make donations to charitable and educational institutions the only permissible deductions from taxable income.

Between 1975 and 1985, nursing-home occupancy rates averaged 87 percent of capacity, while admission rates remained constant, at an average of 95 admissions per 1,000 beds per year. Between 1985 and 1988, however, occupancy rates rose to an average of 92 percent of capacity, while admission rates declined to 81 per 1,000 beds per year. If the statements above are true, which of the following conclusions can be most properly drawn?

Defense Department analysts worry that the ability of the United States to wage a prolonged war would be seriously endangered if the machine-tool manufacturing base shrinks further. Before the Defense Department publicly connected this security issue with the import quota issue, however, the machine-tool industry raised the national security issue in its petition for import quotas. Which of the following, if true, contributes most to an explanation of the machine-tool industry's raising the issue above regarding national security?

Reviewer: The book Art's Decline argues that European painters today lack skills that were common among European painters of preceding centuries. In this the book must be right, since its analysis of 100 paintings, 50 old and 50 contemporary, demonstrates convincingly that none of the contemporary paintings are executed as skillfully as the older paintings. Which of the following points to the most serious logical flaw in the reviewer's argument?

Leaders of a miners� union on strike against Coalco are contemplating additional measures to pressure the company to accept the union's contract proposal.The union leaders are considering as their principal new tactic a consumer boycott against Gasco gas stations,which are owned by Energy Incorporated, the same corporation that owns Coalco. The answer to which of the following questions is LEAST directly relevant to the union leaders� consideration of whether attempting a boycott of Gasco will lead to acceptance of their contract proposal?

State spokesperson: Many businesspeople who have not been to our state believe that we have an inadequate road system. Those people are mistaken, as is obvious from the fact that in each of the past six years, our state has spent more money per mile on road improvements than any other state. Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the reasoning in the spokesperson�s argument?

Division manager: I want to replace the Microton computers in my division with Vitech computers. General manager: Why? Division manager: It costs 28 percent less to train new staff on the Vitech. General manager: But that is not a good enough reason. We can simply hire only people who already know how to use the Microton computer. Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the general manager's objection to the replacement of Microton computers with Vitechs?

Which of the following best completes the passage below? The more worried investors are about losing their money, the more they will demand a high potential return on their investment; great risks must be offset by the chance of great rewards. This principle is the fundamental one in determining interest rates, and it is illustrated by the fact that __________.

According to the new office smoking regulations, only employees who have an enclosed office may smoke at their desks. Virtually all employees with enclosed offices are at the professional level, and virtually all secretarial employees lack enclosed offices. Therefore, secretaries who smoke should be offered enclosed offices. Which of the following is an assumption that enables the conclusion above to be properly drawn?

Advocates of a large-scale space-defense research project conclude that it will represent a net benefit to civilian business. They say that since government-sponsored research will have civilian applications, civilian businesses will reap the rewards of government-developed technology. Each of the following, if true, raises a consideration arguing against the conclusion above, EXCEPT:

Laws requiring the use of headlights during daylight hours can prevent automobile collisions. However, since daylight visibility is worse in countries farther from the equator, any such laws would obviously be more effective in preventing collisions in those countries. In fact, the only countries that actually have such laws are farther from the equator than is the continental United States. Which of the following conclusions could be most properly drawn from the information given above?

A factory was trying out a new process for producing one of its products, with the goal of reducing production costs. A trial production run using the new process showed a fifteen percent reduction in costs compared with past performance using the standard process. The production managers therefore concluded that the new process did produce a cost savings. B Analysis of the trial of the new process showed that the cost reduction during the trial was entirely attributable to a reduction in the number of finished products rejected by quality control. C While the trial was being conducted, production costs at the factory for a similar product, produced without benefit of the new process, also showed a fifteen percent reduction. D Although some of the factory's managers have been arguing that the product is outdated and ought to be redesigned, the use of the new production process does not involve any changes in the finished product. E Since the new process differs from the standard process only in the way in which the stages of production are organized and ordered, the cost of the materials used in the product is the same in both processes.

Treatment for hypertension forestalls certain medical expenses by preventing strokes and heart disease. Yet any money so saved amounts to only one-fourth of the expenditures required to treat the hypertensive population. Therefore, there is no economic justification for preventive treatment for hypertension. Which of the following, if true, is most damaging to the conclusion above?

In 1960, 10 percent of every dollar paid in automobile insurance premiums went to pay costs arising from injuries incurred in car accidents. In 1990, 50 percent of every dollar paid in automobile insurance premiums went toward such costs, despite the fact that cars were much safer in 1990 than in 1960. Which of the following, if true, best explains the discrepancy outlined above?

Some who favor putting governmental enterprises into private hands suggest that conservation objectives would in general be better served if private environmental groups were put in charge of operating and financing the national park system, which is now run by the government. Which of the following, assuming that it is a realistic possibility, argues most strongly against the suggestion above?

A major impediment to wide acceptance of electric vehicles even on the part of people who use their cars almost exclusively for commuting is the inability to use their electric vehicles for occasional extended trips. In an attempt to make purchasing electric vehicles more attractive to commuters, one electric vehicle producer is planning to offer customers three days free rental of a conventional car for every 1,000 miles that they drive their electric vehicle. B Because a majority of commuters drive at least 100 miles a week, the cost to the producer of making good the offer would add considerably to the already high price of electric vehicles. C The relatively long time it takes to recharge the battery of an electric vehicle can easily be fitted into the regular patterns of car use characteristic of commuters. D Although electric vehicles are essentially emission-free in actual use, generating the electricity necessary for charging an electric vehicle's battery can burden the environment. E Some family vehicles are used primarily not for commuting but for making short local trips, such as to do errands.

There is a great deal of geographical variation in the frequency of many surgical procedures�up to tenfold variation per hundred thousand between different areas in the numbers of hysterectomies, prostatectomies, and tonsillectomies. To support a conclusion that much of the variation is due to unnecessary surgical procedure, it would be most important to establish which of the following?