The following appeared in an article written by Dr. Karp, an anthropologist.

"Twenty years ago, Dr. Field, a noted anthropologist, visited the island of Tertia and concluded from his observations that children in Tertia were reared by an entire village rather than by their own biological parents. However, my recent interviews with children living in the group of islands that includes Tertia show that these children spend much more time talking about their biological parents than about other adults in the village. This research of mine proves that Dr. Field's conclusion about Tertian village culture is invalid and thus that the observation-centered approach to studying cultures is invalid as well. The interview-centered method that my team of graduate students is currently using in Tertia will establish a much more accurate understanding of child-rearing traditions there and in other island cultures."

Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.



Dr. Karp believes that Dr. Field observation on the island of Tertia about the child rearing tradition were not accurate. According to his finding, he asserts that more research should be conducted to understand child-rearing tradition in Tertia Island. However, he does not support his argument by presenting enough supportive evidence to persuade him. Therefore, his argument seemed to be flawed and unconvincing.
Dr. Field finding showed that children he interviewed in the island of Tertia were most likely influenced by the village as compared to their parents. But Dr. Karp argues that his statement is not accurate. Through his interviews conducted on the group of islands, including Tertia, he believes that children spend much more time with their parents, so they are more likely to be influenced by their parents. However, he did not support his assertion with enough evidence to support his claim which makes his argument unconvincing. It might be possible that he only interviewed only 10 children out of 200 children on the island of Tertia. This might make his argument weak, and his finding wrong. Hence, to make his argument more assertive he needs to support his findings by providing statistical data.
Dr. Karp asserts that children are more influenced by their parents because in the interview they were mostly taking about their parents. However, the statement does not contain any substantial evidence to support it. Children admire their parents, so they are most likely going to talk more about them. But that does not mean they are the most likely to be influenced by them. There are also other factors that influence and affect children’s development. For example, it might be possible that the parents are not educated, and children are mostly likely to gain knowledge in school. The writer needs to provide enough evidence to explain why he believes that children are reared by parents. He needs to provide in his findings on what criteria he has based his assertion upon.
Dr Karp thinks that Dr Find’s observation is inaccurate about children being reared by the parents, so he believes that his other finding is also inaccurate. It might be possible that one thing is wrong but that does not mean that the entire research might be wrong. It might be possible for Dr Find that he had only conducted his interview on limited children which made his observation invalid. However, it does not mean that his research work is completely inaccurate. Dr Karp needs to provide more information and evidence to explain why he thinks Dr Find’s research is incorrect.
Dr Karp article does not provide enough substantial evidence to support his claim. He needs to provide more evidence and facts to support his argument on why Dr. Field observation is incorrect, and why he believes that more research should be conducted by his graduate students. It can be assumed from his article that his findings were not accurate and Dr Field’s observation is true, hence it is not necessary to send his graduate student for conducting the research in the island of Tertia.