Magazine Publisher: Our magazine does not have a liberal...

[msg4vikas]

12) Magazine Publisher: Our magazine does not have a liberal bias. It is true that when a book review we had commissioned last year turned out to express distinctly conservative views, we did not publish it until we had also obtained a second review that took a strongly liberal position. Clearly, however, our actions demonstrate not a bias in favor of liberal views but rather a commitment to a balanced presentation of diverse opinions.

Determining which of the following would be most useful in evaluating the cogency of the magazine publisher’s response?
A) Whether any other magazines in which the book was reviewed carried more than one review of the book
B) Whether the magazine publishes unsolicited book reviews as well as those that it has commissioned
C) Whether in the event that a first review commissioned by the magazine takes a clearly liberal position the magazine would make any efforts to obtain further reviews
D) Whether the book that was the subject of the two reviews was itself written from a clearly conservative or a clearly liberal point of view the magazine publishes
E) Whether most of the readers of the magazine regularly read the book reviews that the magazine publishes

Please explain the logic behind this question. I got this question correct in exam still want to be sure. The correct answer is C. Thanks

[nayak.purnendu]

Argument:
Our magazine(M) do not have (Liberal Bias)LB. (M is not LB)
However, a book review said just the opposite (M is LB), so we did not publish it until we had another review that took a strongly liberal position.
Conclusion: Our actions are not biased in favor of LB but rather show balanced display of diverse opinion.

Question: Determining which of the following would be most useful in evaluating the cogency of the magazine publisher’s response?

Is the Argument strong? NO

Paraphrase: To evaluate the cogency of the publisher’s response, we should be stick our scope to the conclusion and judge whether their "actions are Liberal biased and do not show balanced display of diverse opinion".

A) Whether any other magazines in which the book was reviewed carried more than one review of the book.
B) Whether the magazine publishes unsolicited book reviews as well as those that it has commissioned
C) Whether in the event that a first review commissioned by the magazine takes a clearly liberal position the magazine would make any efforts to obtain further reviews.
Correctly addresses whether diverse opinions are considered, in general, before publishing.
D) Whether the book that was the subject of the two reviews was itself written from a clearly conservative or a clearly liberal point of view the magazine publishes
E) Whether most of the readers of the magazine regularly read the book reviews that the magazine publishes.

Correct Answer: C

HTH.

[RonPurewal]

12) Magazine Publisher: Our magazine does not have a liberal bias. It is true that when a book review we had commissioned last year turned out to express distinctly conservative views, we did not publish it until we had also obtained a second review that took a strongly liberal position. Clearly, however, our actions demonstrate not a bias in favor of liberal views but rather a commitment to a balanced presentation of diverse opinions.

Determining which of the following would be most useful in evaluating the cogency of the magazine publisher’s response?
A) Whether any other magazines in which the book was reviewed carried more than one review of the book
B) Whether the magazine publishes unsolicited book reviews as well as those that it has commissioned
C) Whether in the event that a first review commissioned by the magazine takes a clearly liberal position the magazine would make any efforts to obtain further reviews
D) Whether the book that was the subject of the two reviews was itself written from a clearly conservative or a clearly liberal point of view the magazine publishes
E) Whether most of the readers of the magazine regularly read the book reviews that the magazine publishes

Please explain the logic behind this question. I got this question correct in exam still want to be sure. The correct answer is C. Thanks

the biggest weapon you have in problems like this is the ability to simplify the argument.

in this case, here's a simplified version:
they got a conservative review, but then waited until they got a liberal review.
they say they were just being balanced.
they say that they DON'T have a bias in favor of liberal views.

we need to pick an answer choice that will DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THESE TWO POSSIBILITIES.

i.e., MAGAZINE IS LIBERAL vs. MAGAZINE IS BALANCED.

the only one of the situations described that would affect this judgment is (c).
if the magazine were liberal, then they would NOT obtain further reviews.
if the magazine were balanced, then they WOULD obtain further reviews.

the other four situations would be unaffected by whether the magazine is balanced or liberal.

[rishisbook]

Hi Ron,

Looking at the explanation above and the conclusion again, C seems to be the closest answer.

But is wrong with D.I selected D in first place.

What is the correct approach for answering the evaluate the argument questions of this type? Do we use a variance test ie Yes/No for each answer choice or is there anything else?

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron,

Looking at the explanation above and the conclusion again, C seems to be the closest answer.

But is wrong with D.I selected D in first place.

that choice is irrelevant because it deals with the content of the book itself, not the reviews of the book. the magazine is responsible only for the reviews of the book -- not for the content of the book itself -- so the views contained in the actual book are unhelpful in determining any particular slant that may exist in the magazine's view.

What is the correct approach for answering the evaluate the argument questions of this type?

as in most other critical reasoning question types, good old real-world intuition is your best weapon -- combined with close attention to what actually constitutes the substance of the argument.

Do we use a variance test ie Yes/No for each answer choice or is there anything else?

what is a "variance test"? i'm sorry, but i have no idea what you mean by that.