LSAT Explanation PT 44, S4, Q5: Barr: The National Tea Association cites

LSAT Question Stem

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens Barr's argument? 

Logical Reasoning Question Type

This is a Weaken question. 

Correct Answer

The correct answer to this question is D. 

LSAT Question Complete Explanation

We are dealing with a Weaken question in this LSAT problem. Our task is to find the answer choice that most seriously weakens Barr's argument. Let's first analyze the argument in the passage.

Barr's argument can be summarized as follows:

Premise: A neutral polling company, the Survey Group, has tracked tea sales at numerous stores for the last 20 years and has found no change in the amount of tea sold.

Conclusion: Tea is no more popular now than it ever was.

Now, let's think of an "Evaluate" question for this argument: "Is the data collected by the Survey Group representative of tea sales in general?"

With that in mind, let's analyze each answer choice:

a) The National Tea Association has announced that it plans to carry out its own retail survey in the next year.

- This answer choice does not provide any evidence that weakens Barr's argument. It only talks about future plans for a survey, which has no impact on the current argument. Therefore, it is incorrect.

b) A survey by an unrelated polling organization shows that the public is generally receptive to the idea of trying new types of tea.

- This answer choice does not weaken the argument that tea's popularity has not actually increased. It only suggests that people who already drink tea might be open to trying different varieties. It doesn't address the overall popularity of tea.

c) The Survey Group is funded by a consortium of consumer advocacy groups.

- This answer choice only provides information about the funding source for the Survey Group. It does not provide any evidence about the validity of the survey or its results. It's not possible to determine whether the funding source would impact the accuracy of the study, so this choice is incorrect.

d) The stores from which the Survey Group collected information about tea sales are all located in the same small region of the country.

- This is the correct answer choice. If the stores are all located in the same small region, it's possible that the data collected by the Survey Group is not representative of tea sales in general. This means that tea sales could have increased in other areas of the country that were not studied, which weakens Barr's argument.

e) Tea has been the subject of an expensive and efficient advertising campaign funded, in part, by the National Tea Association.

- Even if the advertising campaign is expensive and efficient, it does not provide any evidence that the campaign was successful in increasing tea's popularity. Therefore, this answer choice does not weaken Barr's argument.