Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal Analyzing Conclusions Questions and Answers — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Read the following premises: 1. All employees who completed the advanced cybersecurity training are on the incident response team. 2. Some members of the IT department completed the advanced cybersecurity training. Based only on these premises, which conclusion can be logically deduced?
- All members of the incident response team are from the IT department.
- Some members of the IT department are on the incident response team. (Correct answer)
- All members of the IT department are on the incident response team.
- No one outside the IT department completed the advanced cybersecurity training.
Correct answer: Some members of the IT department are on the incident response team.
Premise 2 states some IT department members took the training. Premise 1 states everyone who took the training is on the response team. Therefore, it logically follows that at least some members of the IT department must be on the incident response team.
Question 2: Consider the following statements: 1. If the quality assurance (QA) test fails, the product launch will be postponed. 2. The product launch was not postponed. From these statements, what is the only certain conclusion?
- The QA test was successful. (Correct answer)
- The QA test was irrelevant to the launch decision.
- The product has no quality issues.
- The QA test initially failed but was redone.
Correct answer: The QA test was successful.
This is an example of a valid logical argument form known as Modus Tollens. If 'P implies Q' is true, and 'Q is false', then 'P must be false'. Here, P is 'the QA test fails' and Q is 'the launch will be postponed'. Since Q is false (the launch was not postponed), P must also be false (the QA test did not fail).
Question 3: Premises: 1. No project funded by the 'Green Initiative' grant uses disposable plastics. 2. The 'River Cleanup' project is funded by the 'Green Initiative' grant. Which conclusion necessarily follows from these premises?
- Projects that use disposable plastics are not eligible for any grants.
- The 'River Cleanup' project is the only project funded by the 'Green Initiative' grant.
- The 'River Cleanup' project does not use disposable plastics. (Correct answer)
- Any project that does not use disposable plastics is funded by the 'Green Initiative' grant.
Correct answer: The 'River Cleanup' project does not use disposable plastics.
Premise 1 establishes a rule for all projects within a specific group (funded by the grant). Premise 2 places the 'River Cleanup' project into that specific group. Therefore, the rule must apply to it. The conclusion is a direct application of the rule to the specific case.
Question 4: Review the following facts: 1. All certified project managers are required to submit weekly status reports. 2. Only individuals who submit weekly status reports are eligible for the quarterly performance bonus. 3. Eleanor is a certified project manager. Which of the following conclusions must be true?
- All employees who are eligible for the quarterly performance bonus are certified project managers.
- Eleanor submitted her weekly status report last week.
- Eleanor is eligible for the quarterly performance bonus. (Correct answer)
- If an employee is not a certified project manager, they are not eligible for the quarterly performance bonus.
Correct answer: Eleanor is eligible for the quarterly performance bonus.
From premise 3 and 1, we deduce that Eleanor is required to submit weekly status reports. Premise 2 states that submitting these reports makes one eligible for the bonus. By linking the premises, we can conclude that because Eleanor is a certified project manager, she must submit the reports, which in turn makes her eligible for the bonus.
Question 5: Premises: 1. All documents stored on the 'Omega' server are encrypted. 2. Some of the encrypted documents are legal contracts. 3. The 'Alpha' server contains no encrypted documents. Based strictly on the information above, which conclusion is logically sound?
- No legal contracts are stored on the 'Alpha' server.
- All legal contracts are stored on the 'Omega' server.
- Some documents on the 'Omega' server are legal contracts. (Correct answer)
- All encrypted documents are stored on the 'Omega' server.
Correct answer: Some documents on the 'Omega' server are legal contracts.
Premise 1 states all documents on 'Omega' are encrypted. Premise 2 states some encrypted documents are legal contracts. Combining these, we know that the population of 'legal contracts that are encrypted' must exist on the 'Omega' server, as it's the only place mentioned that holds encrypted files. Therefore, it's certain that some of the documents on 'Omega' are legal contracts.
Question 6: Assume the following premises are true: 1. If a system passes the security audit, it is approved for deployment. 2. The system was not approved for deployment. Which of the following is the only logical conclusion?
- The system has critical security flaws.
- The system failed the security audit. (Correct answer)
- The security audit was never performed.
- The system will be approved for deployment later.
Correct answer: The system failed the security audit.
This follows the logical rule of Modus Tollens. The first premise is 'If P, then Q' (If audit passes, then deployed). The second premise is 'not Q' (not deployed). The only valid conclusion is 'not P' (the audit did not pass, i.e., it failed). The other options are possible explanations but are not necessary conclusions based solely on the given premises.
Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal Analyzing Conclusions Questions and Answers
Read the following premises:
1.
All employees who completed the advanced cybersecurity training are on the incident response team.
2.
Some members of the IT department completed the advanced cybersecurity training.
Based only on these premises, which conclusion can be logically deduced?