Assignment:
Please carefully follow the instructions for each part and number your answers accordingly.
Reminder: there is to be absolutely no collaboration with anyone regarding this assignment. All work is to be entirely your own.
Section 1: Causal Reasoning
Directions: Evaluate the causal reasoning in passages 1-3 by following the directions below.
Your evaluation of each passage should be no more than a brief paragraph in length (no min. or max. length).
In your answer:
State clearly any causal claims that are either stated or implied. (If the claim is implied, you may need to rephrase it as causal.) If a correlation is present, indicate the correlates. Briefly state any evidence or grounds which may be offered for the causal claim.
If the writer commits an error in causal reasoning (post hoc, confusing correlation with cause, slippery slope, oversimplification), state which error has been committed. Be sure to defend your judgment with appropriate reasoning explaining how the error is made. In each case (with the exception of the charge of slippery slope), as part of your defense you should also provide an alternative causal hypothesis which accounts for, and is consistent with the evidence, yet points to another cause. If you encounter a case of slippery slope reasoning you should explain how the error is made and indicate why it is an error in that particular case.
Do NOT, for this exercise, evaluate the acceptability of the premises/evidence. Assume for the task at hand that the premises are true. Remember that assessing premise acceptability is an independent consideration.
Section 2: Evaluating Opinion
Directions: Read the Globe and Mail Report news report, "NDP the Party most-trusted by Canadian families, poll' and then answer the following questions. For your answers please use complete sentences rather than point form. You should not need to do any additional research about this poll. There isn't a word limit for this one, but you should probably be able to keep your answers to all questions under 350 words in total.
1. What is the main target property of this poll?
2. What seems to be the target population of this poll?
3. What was the measuring instrument used?
4. What is the margin of error?
5. On the basis of this poll would it be appropriate to draw the inference: ‘New Democrats have a sizable advantage when it comes to winning the support of those Canadians who are juggling the costs of housing, child care, taxes and basic living expenses (families)."
Why or why not? (Make sure you provide support for your judgment by addressing any serious problems with the poll or with the reporting of this poll.)