Module 8 Part1 Flashcards
Arguments from premises about a sample to conclusions about the whole class are defeasible.
True
Arguments from premises about a sample to conclusions about the whole class are inductive.
True
The conclusion in a generalization from a sample always begins with the word “all”.
False
Arguments from premises about a sample to conclusions about the whole class are valid.
False
Statistics are irrefutable
False
When a poll asks a question that is slanted in order to reach a certain result, then the poll does not provide strong reason to believe the desired conclusion.
“True.”
A slanted question can make a poll reach a desired result, but then the poll does not provide strong reason to believe that that desired conclusion is really true, because the slanted poll would have reached that same result even if that conclusion were not true. The problem with slanted questions is that they make the poll reach the desired conclusion regardless of whether that conclusion is really true.
Specify what, if anything, is the main problem with the following generalizations from samples. There might be more than one problem, but indicate the main one.
I have lots and lots of friends. All of them think that I would make a great comedian. So most people in my country would probably agree that I would make a great comedian.
The sample is biased.”
My friends are more likely than strangers to think that I am funny. That might be part of why they are my friends. However, very few people really make great comedians. As a result, it is likely that most other people would disagree with my friends even if all of my friends think that I would make a great comedian. That makes the sample biased. The sample might also be too small, because most people do not have enough friends for a reliable poll. However, the argument does say, “I have lots and lots of friends,” so the sample does include “lots and lots” of people. Moreover, the premise is about all of my friends, whereas the conclusion is only about most people. Hence, the main problem with this argument is that the sample is biased.
Arguments from premises about a sample to general conclusions about the whole class commit the fallacy of hasty generalization when the sample in the premises is biased.
False
Polls are never reliable
False
Specify what, if anything, is the main problem with the following generalizations from samples. There might be more than one problem, but indicate the main one.
K-Mart asked all of their customers throughout the country whether they prefer K-Mart to Walmart, and 90 percent said they did. Thus, 90 percent of all shoppers in the country prefer K-Mart.
“The sample is biased.”
Customers tend to shop at stores that they like, because they go to stores that they like more often than they go to stores that they do not like. That could explain why a sample taken at a store will usually include more people who like that store, even if there are many more people who do not like that store and who shop elsewhere, so they are not in the sample. This explains why this sample is biased and why you cannot legitimately generalize from this sample.
Polls are always reliable
False
Specify what, if anything, is the main problem with the following generalizations from samples. There might be more than one problem, but indicate the main one.
Most college students like to surf, because I asked a lot of students at several colleges along the California coast, and most of them like to surf.
The sample is biased.”
Many students choose to go to a college along the California coast because they already like to surf and want to have easy access to surfing while they are in college. Other students have other reasons to go to colleges along the California coast, but then they learn to surf while they are in college, and they come to like it. Students in colleges where they cannot surf are less likely to learn to enjoy surfing. Thus, students who choose to go to colleges along the California coast are more likely to enjoy surfing than are students who go to college in areas where they cannot surf. That explains why this sample is biased and why you cannot legitimately generalize from this sample.
Specify what, if anything, is the main problem with the following generalizations from samples. There might be more than one problem, but indicate the main one.
Most Swedes are thieves, because my bicycle has been stolen twice, and both times it was a Swede who did it.
The sample is too small.”
A sample of two is too small to generalize to most Swedes, because there is no reason to assume that Swedes are uniform with respect to whether or not they are thieves. This sample might also be biased because there might be a high percentage of Swedes in the area where the bikes were stolen, and then it is more likely that a bike would be stolen by a Swede than by a non-Swede in that area. That would be the case if the bikes were stolen in Sweden, for example. Thus, there might be more than one problem with a single generalization. However, the main problem is that the sample is too small, because the sample would still be too small even if the two bikes were stolen in different areas and even if these areas did not include an unusual percentage of Swedes. Notice that many social prejudices are based on hasty generalizations like this one.
Specify what, if anything, is the main problem with the following generalizations from samples. There might be more than one problem, but indicate the main one.
A poll asked fifty thousand randomly chosen people throughout Asia whether they would want to eat foods that have been genetically modified in ways that increase company profits but also might poison them. Less that 10% replied “Yes, definitely.” Therefore, most people in Asia do not want to eat genetically modified foods.
The question is slanted.”
The question refers only to dangers of genetically modified foods without mentioning any benefits for consumers of genetically modified foods, so it is likely to lead most people not to answer “yes” even if they really do support and want to eat genetically modified foods, and even if some genetically modified foods have health benefits that outweigh any dangers. (Whether or not that is true is controversial, of course.) Notice also that the sample is large and random, so this argument does not have the other problems listed.
A sample of one is always too small to justify a generalization.
False
