GRE General TestAnalytical WritingMedium
A company CEO states that employee morale has significantly improved over the last year, citing a 10% increase in positive responses on the annual employee satisfaction survey. A skeptical board member points out that during the same period, 20% of the company's employees left for other opportunities, and the survey was only distributed to remaining staff. What logical flaw is the board member most likely highlighting?
- AAppeal to authority
- BSampling bias
- CPost hoc ergo propter hoc
- DAd hominem fallacy
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: B. Sampling bias
By only surveying the employees who remained after a significant turnover, the CEO's data is subject to sampling bias. Those who were dissatisfied likely left, skewing the results of the survey toward more positive responses from the remaining, potentially more satisfied, employees.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. An appeal to authority uses the opinion of an expert as evidence, which is not the primary flaw highlighted.
- C. This fallacy assumes that because one event happened after another, the first event caused the second, which is not the main issue here.
- D. An ad hominem fallacy attacks the person making the argument, not the argument itself, which is not occurring here.
Sampling Bias
Sampling bias occurs when the sample used for a study or survey is not representative of the population it is intended to represent, leading to inaccurate or skewed conclusions.
- Results from a non-random or unrepresentative selection process.
- Can lead to an overestimation or underestimation of a characteristic.
- Undermines the generalizability of findings to the broader population.
Memory trick: Biased samples BEND the truth.