The following appeared as part of an article in a business magazine.
"A recent study rating 300 male and female Mentian advertising executives according to the average number of hours they sleep per night showed an association between the amount of sleep the executives need and the success of their firms. Of the advertising firms studied, those whose executives reported needing no more than 6 hours of sleep per night had higher profit margins and faster growth. These results suggest that if a business wants to prosper, it should hire only people who need less than 6 hours of sleep per night."
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
In the given article, it is concluded that for a business firm to prosper, it must hire only people who need less than 6 hours of sleep per night. The firms arrive at this conclusion based on the premises of a recent survey which was conducted on 300 male and female of mentian advertising executives. The survey found that the executives who needed less than 6 hours of sleep per night, posed higher profit margins and faster growth. However, to evaluate the argument, first we need to address the following unstated assumptions.
Firstly, the premise of the argument includes a survey of 300 male and female mentian advertising executives. There is no evidence presented so as to suggest that these 300 candidates represent the whole working force of the advertising firm. Also, there is no data to prove how these 300 executives were selected for the survey. It is highly likely that they represent just a fraction of the total working executives of the firm. For instance, if the selected 300 candidates were already dealing with sleep disorders such as insomania etc, it would lead to false sense of conclusion. Morever, the selected candidates might belong to same age group which would have certain different sleep patterns from the rest. If any of the ablove holds merit, then the conclusion drawn from the argument is flawed.
Secondly, there is no date to suggest how the associated was made of profit margin and growth with sleep paterns. There is no clarity the growth as stated in the survey is based on what factors. We must take cognizence of the fact that profit margins and growth are relative terms. On what basis, is the growth measured and how it is attributed as "faster" growth is unclear. For instnace, an exec posing a growth from 100k$ to 150k$ cannot be compared to growth from 20$ to 30$. Both are extremely different in their own terms. If the assumption is unture, it would lead to rather adverse implications especially when money is at stake.
Further, the firm's prosperity is attributed and linked directly to higher profit margins and faster growth. However, there are various attributes that would lead to a prosperous business. Here, it is concluded that only these two attribute to prosperity. Perhaps, understanding market and rivals alongside customer satisfaction are also some of the major factor for a business to propsper. If this is true, then the argument hold no water.
Moreover, it is obsurely vague how the sleep patterns and durations were calculated. Thesurvey does not mention the method which was used to conduct the same. It is highly likely that the responses regarding the sleep durations are inaccurate due to the fact that a person is asleep. For example, a person belonging to senior citizen category has a different sleep pattern and requirement as compared to a younger counterpart. If the above assumption stands unwarranted, then implicatins are rather flawed.
In conclusion the argument, as it stands now, is flawed due to it's reliance on unwarranted assumptions. If author is able to to address the given unstated assumptions, then we wouldbe in better position to evaluate the viability of this argument whether to hire excutives needing less than 6 hours of sleep or no-for a business to prosper.
Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.0 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 30 15
No. of Words: 548 350
No. of Characters: 2651 1500
No. of Different Words: 249 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.838 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.838 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.62 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 199 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 139 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 100 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 62 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 18.267 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 6.434 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.567 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.255 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.48 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.074 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 6 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 142, Rule ID: SO_AS_TO[1]
Message: Use simply 'to'
Suggestion: to
...cutives. There is no evidence presented so as to suggest that these 300 candidates repre...
^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 479, Rule ID: CURRENCY[1]
Message: The currency mark is usually put at the beginning of the number: '$20'.
Suggestion: $20
...150k$ cannot be compared to growth from 20$ to 30$. Both are extremely different in...
^^^
Line 5, column 486, Rule ID: CURRENCY[1]
Message: The currency mark is usually put at the beginning of the number: '$30'.
Suggestion: $30
...annot be compared to growth from 20$ to 30$. Both are extremely different in their ...
^^^
Line 7, column 14, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'firms'' or 'firm's'?
Suggestion: firms'; firm's
...when money is at stake. Further, the firms prosperity is attributed and linked dir...
^^^^^
Line 7, column 338, Rule ID: SOME_OF_THE[1]
Message: Simply use 'some'.
Suggestion: some
...longside customer satisfaction are also some of the major factor for a business to propsper...
^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 11, column 123, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a word
Suggestion: to
...arranted assumptions. If author is able to to address the given unstated assumptions,...
^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, firstly, however, if, moreover, regarding, second, secondly, so, then, as to, for example, for instance, in conclusion, such as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 34.0 19.6327345309 173% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 10.0 12.9520958084 77% => OK
Conjunction : 12.0 11.1786427146 107% => OK
Relative clauses : 15.0 13.6137724551 110% => OK
Pronoun: 31.0 28.8173652695 108% => OK
Preposition: 63.0 55.5748502994 113% => OK
Nominalization: 17.0 16.3942115768 104% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2743.0 2260.96107784 121% => OK
No of words: 548.0 441.139720559 124% => OK
Chars per words: 5.00547445255 5.12650576532 98% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.83832613839 4.56307096286 106% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.76459010863 2.78398813304 99% => OK
Unique words: 255.0 204.123752495 125% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.465328467153 0.468620217663 99% => OK
syllable_count: 850.5 705.55239521 121% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 4.96107784431 181% => OK
Article: 7.0 8.76447105788 80% => OK
Subordination: 7.0 2.70958083832 258% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.67365269461 0% => OK
Preposition: 4.0 4.22255489022 95% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 30.0 19.7664670659 152% => OK
Sentence length: 18.0 22.8473053892 79% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 36.5918782731 57.8364921388 63% => OK
Chars per sentence: 91.4333333333 119.503703932 77% => OK
Words per sentence: 18.2666666667 23.324526521 78% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.83333333333 5.70786347227 85% => OK
Paragraphs: 6.0 5.15768463074 116% => OK
Language errors: 6.0 5.25449101796 114% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 12.0 8.20758483034 146% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 8.0 6.88822355289 116% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 10.0 4.67664670659 214% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.174827898978 0.218282227539 80% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0410135498716 0.0743258471296 55% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0471520985343 0.0701772020484 67% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0868112347846 0.128457276422 68% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0668336213999 0.0628817314937 106% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 11.3 14.3799401198 79% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 53.21 48.3550499002 110% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.3 12.197005988 84% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.78 12.5979740519 94% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.19 8.32208582834 98% => OK
difficult_words: 127.0 98.500998004 129% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 10.5 12.3882235529 85% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.2 11.1389221557 83% => OK
text_standard: 11.0 11.9071856287 92% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 50.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.0 Out of 6
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.