Question:medium

Argument:
A company claims its new productivity software significantly improves employee efficiency because workers using it complete tasks 30% faster.
Question:
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the company’s claim?

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To weaken an argument, identify its central assumption and look for evidence showing that the stated cause does not lead to the claimed effect.
Updated On: Jul 4, 2026
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Solution and Explanation

The company's claim only works if going faster and being more efficient are the same thing, and the strongest way to break a weaken question is to show they are not the same thing here. If using the software also means making a lot more mistakes that then have to be corrected, the "30% faster" number stops meaning anything about real productivity, because the time saved gets eaten up by the rework. That is exactly what the independent-audit option describes, so it lands hardest on the claim. Statements about employees liking the software, the software costing less, a handful of employees finishing even quicker, or a competitor's tool never say anything about whether the finished work is actually better or worse, so none of them touches the company's real weak point the way the rework-from-errors option does.
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