Question: The average age of chief executive officers (CEO’s) in a large sample of companies is 57. The average age of CEO’s in those same companies 20 years ago was approximately eight years younger. On the basis of those data, it can be concluded that CEO’s in general tend to be older now.
Which of the following casts the most doubt on the conclusion drawn above?
(A) The dates when the CEO’s assumed their current positions have not been specified.
(B) No information is given concerning the average number of years that CEO’s remain in office.
(C) The information is based only on companies that have been operating for at least 20 years.
(D) Only approximate information is given concerning the average age of the CEO’s 20 years ago.
(E) Information concerning the exact number of companies in the sample has not been given.
“The average age of chief executive officers (CEO’s) in a large sample of companies is 57”- is a GMAT critical reasoning topic. This GMAT critical comes with five options and candidates need to choose the one which is correct. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. To answer the question, a candidate can either find a piece of evidence that would weaken the argument or have logical flaws in the argument. Candidates get 65 minutes to answer 36 MCQ questions in the critical reasoning section of the GMAT.
Approach Solution 1:
Correct Answer: C
Explanation: In order to find out the option which casts as the most doubtful for the conclusions drawn regarding the age of the CEO, all the options need to be analysed. Accordingly, following are the given options and their possible validation for casting the most doubt on the age of the CEO.
(A) The dates when the CEO's assumed their current positions have not been specified.
The data represents the average age of CEO of the companies in the sample. Accordingly, the positions for when they were assumed are not important, only that they are the CEOs is what is important.
(B) No information is given concerning the average number of years that CEO's remain in office.
Based on this statement, the data is comparing the ages of CEOs from current positions and those from 20 years ago. The average number of years that they have been in the office is not important in this aspect.
(C) The information is based only on companies that have been operating for at least 20 years.
The data sample is limited to only to companies which are 20+ years old. Accordingly, the conclusions drawn state that CEOs in general tend to be older which has been based on a limited range of sample. Hence, making such a generalisation on the age of the CEOs can be considered to be irrelevant in drawing such a conclusion.
(D) Only approximate information is given concerning the average age of the CEO's 20 years ago.
The given statement mentions that the information given in the scenario does not require the average age of the CEOs. The approximations of the data do not make any changes to the data, one set is higher and one is lower.
(E) Information concerning the exact number of companies in the sample has not been given.
This statement given as the fifth option would only weaken the stated conclusion. Accordingly, this states the data sample collected was from the fortune 1000 companies vs. only 10 companies. For this the solution evaluates that the data would reflect a more accurate representation. This point could weaken the conclusion slightly.
Hence, based on the evaluations for all the statements, it can be considered that option C is the correct answer. This is because it casts the most doubt on the conclusion drawn because of the wide generalisation made on the age of the CEOs.
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