At a wildlife sanctuary, two methods are usually employed to tranquili...
At a wildlife sanctuary, two methods are usually employed to tranquilize injured animals for treatment: injections and sprays. Although tranquilizer sprays are delivered faster, the overall time taken by the injection to tranquilize an animal is less than that taken by the spray. Therefore, using injections is a more effective method than using the tranquilizer spray.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
Argument Analysis
Pre-Thinking
Conclusion Clarification
The author concludes that using injections is a more effective method than using the spray. The conclusion is based on the fact that though sprays are delivered faster, the effect of tranquilizer injections occurs faster.
Pre-Thinking Approach
To pre-think assumptions, let’s see how we can falsify this conclusion. To do so, we will look at the logical structure, focusing on linkage 1 and the conclusion. We will understand the condition under which the conclusion is falsified. The assumption then will be that the condition does not exist.
Linkage#1 – (ref. logical structure)
- Falsification Condition: What if there is no correlation between time taken by a method and its effectiveness? If this were true, then effectiveness of injection and spray as methods of tranquilization cannot be determined by knowing the time taken by the methods to tranquilize. In such a case, the conclusion will be falsified.
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- Assumption: The effectiveness of a method of tranquilization is primarily determined by the time it takes to tranquilize the animal after it has been administered.
With this pre-thinking in mind, let’s evaluate the answer choices.
Answer Choices
A
The effects of tranquilizer injections last much longer than the effects of tranquilizer sprays.
Incorrect - Irrelevant
This option talks about the duration of the effect of a method of tranquilization. But we don’t know whether duration plays a significant role in determining the effectiveness of the method.
B
The effectiveness of a method is inversely proportional to the time it takes to tranquilize an animal.
Correct
This choice is written along the lines of our pre-thinking per Linkage 1. The inverse relationship between effectiveness of a method and time taken by it to tranquilize an animal implies that less time taken by an injection would makes it a more effective method than a spray.
C
Using the tranquilizer spray is not a less effective method than administering tranquilizer injections in the case of sedating large animals for vaccination.
Incorrect - Irrelevant
This option talks about tranquilizing large animals specifically. The passage doesn’t provide any information in this regard.
D
Tranquilizers cannot be delivered faster than currently possible with the use of better technologies.
Incorrect - Irrelevant
This option discusses the role of better technologies to make the delivery of tranquilizers faster than what is possible with current technologies. But we are only talking about the present situation here and not future possibilities. Hence, this choice is irrelevant.
E
The effect of tranquilizer injections occurs faster than that of tranquilizer sprays because the injections are administered intravenously.
Incorrect - Irrelevant
This option talks about the reason why injections have a faster effect than sprays. But the specific reason for this occurrence is not important for the author’s conclusion and hence is not an assumption made by the author.