Which of the following is assumed by Roarke’s argument? A) Every empl

QUESTION

Which of the following is assumed by Roarke’s argument?

A) Every employee would benefit from some training in stopping sexual harassment.
B) The attitudes and behavior of the organization’s employees were worse than those of most employees in the industry.
C) The educational programs were the most effective programs that could have been offered.
D) The effects of the educational programs in changing attitudes were greater than they were in changing behavior.
E) The educational programs had a significant effect on either attitudes or behavior, or both.

ANSWER

Answer: E
Explanation: E) Roarke finds that the programs had no effect and, therefore, concludes that the survey must be wrong. This discounts the possibility that the programs had no effect, and so Roarke assumes Choice E. Choices A and B, if true, suggest that the organization has a problem, but neither needs to be true in order for Roarke’s argument to work. Roarke’s conclusion could be true even if the organization is doing well in this regard. Choice C is too extreme. Roarke doesn’t assume that the programs were the best possible. If they were just pretty good, one would expect them to have some effect. Choice D: Roarke doesn’t make any distinction between those two aspects. Roarke just expects some effect somewhere.