PHI 210 Critical Thinking “WebText”6.6 “Practice: Statistics and Fallacies”.

PHI 210 Critical Thinking “WebText”6.6

“Practice: Statistics and Fallacies”

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

In the scenario the writer describes in the beginning, what are law students most concerned about?

·          whether they will pass the bar exam

·          whether they will get well-paying jobs after they graduate

·          whether they will be accepted into a prestigious law school

·          whether they will have high levels of student debt

Correct. In the scenario the writer describes in the beginning, the law students are most concerned about whether or not they will get well-paying jobs after they graduate.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

The writer discusses a statistic about the economic value of a law degree. Which types of people would MOST likely have a personal investment in accurately understanding this statistic?

·          people who haven’t previously considered going to law school

·          people who are evaluating whether going to law school will be financially worth it

·          people who used to work in law but have now switched professions

·          people who hope to teach at a law school

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

The study analyzed by the writer arrived at which of the following conclusions?

·          Female law-school graduates are projected to earn more than male graduates in their lifetimes.

·          All graduates of the most prestigious law schools earn $1,000,000 in their lifetimes.

·          On average, people with law degrees will earn $1,000,000 in their lifetimes.

·          All law-school graduates earn $1,000,000 in their lifetimes.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

The writer criticizes Simkovic and McIntyre’s paper because it “fails to include some other big numbers.” What “big numbers” does the statistic avoid addressing?

·          the income difference between men and women

·          the difference between earnings in the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles

·          the lifetime earnings of the average law-school graduate

·          the costs of going to law school

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

What does the writer mean when he says, “There’s a long tail that comes after the tall head”?

·          Law-school graduates usually have to wait a long time before they can get a job in their field.

·          Law-school graduates have many long years of paying back student loans after their three years of law school.

·          The huge expense of going to law school will be followed by long years of solid income to make up for it.

·          There is a small number of law-school graduates who make very high salaries, but there is a far larger number of law-school graduates who make significantly lower salaries.

RESPONSE BOARD QUESTION

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Now that you’ve read the writer’s evaluation of the claim that “the mean pre-tax lifetime value of a law degree [is] approximately $1,000,000,” explain whether or not you think that statistic qualifies as “deceptive” and why.

RESPONSE BOARD QUESTION

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Imagine that you’re considering going back to school for an MBA and trying to evaluate whether the investment of time and money will be worth it. You read on this website https://www.allbusinessschools.com/mba/  that, according to the 2012 Alumni Perspectives Survey of the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), “the median annual salary for MBA degree-holders was $95,000 with additional compensation (bonuses, etc.) of $18,123 annually.” Provide at least two questions you would want to ask about this statistic before accepting it as fact.

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