The following appeared in a newsletter offering advice to investors.
"Over 80 percent of the respondents to a recent survey indicated a desire to reduce their intake of foods containing fats and cholesterol, and today low-fat products abound in many food stores. Since many of the food products currently marketed by Old Dairy Industries are high in fat and cholesterol, the company's sales are likely to diminish greatly and company profits will no doubt decrease. We therefore advise Old Dairy stockholders to sell their shares, and other investors not to purchase stock in this company."
Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the advice and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the advice.
The prompt’s author argues that investors should not invest in Old Diary. He/she bases this argument on the firm’s marketing of its high fat and cholesterol food items despite a recent survey revealing that 80% of respondents no longer desire such products. While there may be some truth to the author’s position, it is currently a spurious one as it fails to answer four key questions.
To begin, is the prompt’s author a reliable and trustworthy source? While the author assumes that he is, we should not be so credulous in assuming so. Indeed, it is possible that there are several underlying motives behind the author’s position. For instance, he/she may work for one of Old Diary’s competitors. If so, his/her argument against Old Diary is not a particularly surprising one. Besides this scenario, there are several other possible scenarios that can lead to a biased opinion against Old Diary. For example, the author may be a strong healthy lifestyle advocate. If so, he/she is perhaps biased against this firm as its products do not align with this lifestyle. Given that these are plausible answers to the question asked earlier, one cannot simply assume the author is an unbiased source. Given this, the author’s position is potentially weakened.
Secondly, even if the author is a reliable source, are the survey results valid and reliable ones? The underlying assumption the author makes is that they are in the prompt. Yet, this may not be the case. For instance, if the study consists of only five participants out of the potential hundreds or thousands of Old Diary’s customers, then it is quite unlikely that the results would generalize to all of Old Diary’s customer base. Besides the quantity aspect, there may also be similar quality issues with the sample. For example, perhaps only female seniors participated in the study. If so, then it is questionable if these results apply to males and to other age groups (e.g. teenagers, young adults, and middle aged adults). Considering the scant information provided on the survey’s participants, we cannot easily reach the author’s conclusion as we cannot rule out these possible scenarios.
Moreover, even if there are no reliability and validity issues with the survey, will the survey results apply to Old Diary? While the author assumes this to be the case, there are several scenarios that can suggest otherwise. Firstly, it is possible that Old Diary has a loyal customer base that does not care about fat content in its products. If so, the survey results are unlikely to apply to these customers. Indeed, it is even possible that Old Diary’s customer base is growing because of its products’ high fat content and taste. Given that there is nothing in the prompt that refutes these scenarios, the author’s conclusion cannot be reached.
Finally, if we assume that the survey results do apply to Old Diary, does this mean that the business will be an unprofitable one and unworthy of investment? The author adopts quite a parochial view as he/she only focuses on products regarding high fat content. Yet, it is possible that Old Diary provides various other kinds of products. Perhaps, they are expanding their healthy product range. If so, it is possible that Old Diary may become more attractive to customers and subsequently investors. Moreover, the firm may also have other products that are high in demand. For instance, they may sell exercise clothes, home-related decorations, and products in the arts and crafts arena. Perhaps, the revenue stream from these lines is expected to increase exponentially in the next few years. If so, investing in the firm may be quite fruitful for investors. Thus, the author’s position is significantly weakened if these scenarios hold water.
In conclusion, the author’s argument is a flawed one as it does not address four key matters. However, if the author can provide evidence on these issues, then it would be possible to better assess the strength of his/her position.
| Post date | Users | Rates | Link to Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-08-03 | okazaki11 | 25 | view |
| 2022-10-01 | SUDIPTA BARUA | 58 | view |
| 2022-09-10 | jeevansreeram | 16 | view |
| 2021-12-08 | Anirudha Balaji Shirsikar | 55 | view |
| 2021-07-06 | piyushac123 | 57 | view |
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Comments
Essay evaluations by e-grader
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, besides, e.g., finally, first, firstly, however, if, may, moreover, regarding, second, secondly, so, then, thus, while, for example, for instance, in conclusion
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 41.0 19.6327345309 209% => Less to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 22.0 12.9520958084 170% => OK
Conjunction : 12.0 11.1786427146 107% => OK
Relative clauses : 19.0 13.6137724551 140% => OK
Pronoun: 71.0 28.8173652695 246% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 57.0 55.5748502994 103% => OK
Nominalization: 16.0 16.3942115768 98% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3373.0 2260.96107784 149% => OK
No of words: 661.0 441.139720559 150% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.10287443268 5.12650576532 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.07049507093 4.56307096286 111% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.71177150112 2.78398813304 97% => OK
Unique words: 286.0 204.123752495 140% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.432677760968 0.468620217663 92% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 1040.4 705.55239521 147% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 15.0 4.96107784431 302% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 11.0 8.76447105788 126% => OK
Subordination: 14.0 2.70958083832 517% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 2.0 1.67365269461 119% => OK
Preposition: 5.0 4.22255489022 118% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 39.0 19.7664670659 197% => OK
Sentence length: 16.0 22.8473053892 70% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 38.6935226059 57.8364921388 67% => OK
Chars per sentence: 86.4871794872 119.503703932 72% => OK
Words per sentence: 16.9487179487 23.324526521 73% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.25641025641 5.70786347227 75% => OK
Paragraphs: 6.0 5.15768463074 116% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 5.25449101796 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 9.0 8.20758483034 110% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 16.0 6.88822355289 232% => Less negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 14.0 4.67664670659 299% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.0709112784705 0.218282227539 32% => The similarity between the topic and the content is low.
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0192182926945 0.0743258471296 26% => Sentence topic similarity is low.
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0397110057442 0.0701772020484 57% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0525607163859 0.128457276422 41% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0567866654335 0.0628817314937 90% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 11.1 14.3799401198 77% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 55.24 48.3550499002 114% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 9.5 12.197005988 78% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.0 12.5979740519 95% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.18 8.32208582834 98% => OK
difficult_words: 157.0 98.500998004 159% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 7.5 12.3882235529 61% => OK
gunning_fog: 8.4 11.1389221557 75% => OK
text_standard: 8.0 11.9071856287 67% => The average readability is low. Need to imporve the language.
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Write the essay in 30 minutes.
It is not exactly right on the topic in the view of e-grader. Maybe there is a wrong essay topic.
Rates: 16.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 1.0 Out of 6
---------------------
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.
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, besides, e.g., finally, first, firstly, however, if, may, moreover, regarding, second, secondly, so, then, thus, while, for example, for instance, in conclusion
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 41.0 19.6327345309 209% => Less to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 22.0 12.9520958084 170% => OK
Conjunction : 12.0 11.1786427146 107% => OK
Relative clauses : 19.0 13.6137724551 140% => OK
Pronoun: 71.0 28.8173652695 246% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 57.0 55.5748502994 103% => OK
Nominalization: 16.0 16.3942115768 98% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3373.0 2260.96107784 149% => OK
No of words: 661.0 441.139720559 150% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.10287443268 5.12650576532 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.07049507093 4.56307096286 111% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.71177150112 2.78398813304 97% => OK
Unique words: 286.0 204.123752495 140% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.432677760968 0.468620217663 92% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 1040.4 705.55239521 147% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 15.0 4.96107784431 302% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 11.0 8.76447105788 126% => OK
Subordination: 14.0 2.70958083832 517% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 2.0 1.67365269461 119% => OK
Preposition: 5.0 4.22255489022 118% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 39.0 19.7664670659 197% => OK
Sentence length: 16.0 22.8473053892 70% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 38.6935226059 57.8364921388 67% => OK
Chars per sentence: 86.4871794872 119.503703932 72% => OK
Words per sentence: 16.9487179487 23.324526521 73% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.25641025641 5.70786347227 75% => OK
Paragraphs: 6.0 5.15768463074 116% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 5.25449101796 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 9.0 8.20758483034 110% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 16.0 6.88822355289 232% => Less negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 14.0 4.67664670659 299% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.0709112784705 0.218282227539 32% => The similarity between the topic and the content is low.
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0192182926945 0.0743258471296 26% => Sentence topic similarity is low.
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0397110057442 0.0701772020484 57% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0525607163859 0.128457276422 41% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0567866654335 0.0628817314937 90% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 11.1 14.3799401198 77% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 55.24 48.3550499002 114% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 9.5 12.197005988 78% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.0 12.5979740519 95% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.18 8.32208582834 98% => OK
difficult_words: 157.0 98.500998004 159% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 7.5 12.3882235529 61% => OK
gunning_fog: 8.4 11.1389221557 75% => OK
text_standard: 8.0 11.9071856287 67% => The average readability is low. Need to imporve the language.
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Write the essay in 30 minutes.
It is not exactly right on the topic in the view of e-grader. Maybe there is a wrong essay topic.
Rates: 16.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 1.0 Out of 6
---------------------
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.