GRE Argument: In a study of reading habits of Leeville citizens conducted by the University of Leeville, most respondents said they preferred literary classics as reading material. However, a follow-up study conducted by the same researchers found that the type of book most frequently checked out of each of the public libraries in Leeville was the mystery novel. Therefore, it can be concluded that the respondents in the first study had misrepresented their reading habits.

My Response Essay:

The author cites two studies conducted by researchers from University of Leeville on Leeville (LV) citizens and concludes that the respondents of first study misrepresented their reading interests. However, a closer scrutiny of the author's argument and his line of reasoning reveals serious flaws and hence the argument looks untenable.

The author does not give any information on how participants for the first study were selected, how many of them were selected, and how many responded. If only twenty odd people responded, these respondents may not be the representative of the entire population of LV. For example, majority of respondents may indeed be liking literary classics just out of their unique interest. Or, these people might be from older generation and this is the reason of their penchant for classics. Or, perhaps these respondents were selected from university community, in which case, it is more likely that these people prefer to read literary classics due to their academic interests.

The author gives little data for the second study. it is quite possible that majority of the LV citizens do not use public library and thats why not many literary classics are checked out from public libraries. This in turn could be because these people use private libraries as the books there are well maintained and readily available. Or, perhaps they prefer to purchase the books of their interest and rarely use libraries -- public or private. Another possiblity is that the public libraries may not have many literary classics and hence people have to take other books which are available there -- and coincidentally, mystery novels happen to be the ones in abundance.



One crucial point to be noted is the time period between the two studies -- which again has been missed out by the author. People's habbits and interests change over time. If the gap between the two studies was five or ten years, it is entirely likely that at the time of first study, majority of LV citizens preferred literary classics whereas at the time of second one, they preferred mystery novels. It could be because of more and more young people are being drawn towards hobby reading, and their interest happens to be mystery novel. Or, perhaps more movies whose plots are based on mystery novels are getting screened these days in LV and herefrom stems the liking for such novels from the residents.

In sum, the author's conclusion that the respondents of first study prevaricated about their reading interests seems to be ill founded. To bolster his argument, he should provide corroborating evidence that the results of first study indeed reflect the reading interest of majority of LV citizens. He must also present more compelling evidence that majority of people do use public libraries and these libraries have all kinds of books including literary classics. Finally, to better assay the argument, I would need to know the time gap between the two studies.

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