The following appeared as part of an article in a business magazine.
"A recent study rating 300 male and female Mentian advertising executives according to the average number of hours they sleep per night showed an association between the amount of sleep the executives need and the success of their firms. Of the advertising firms studied, those whose executives reported needing no more than 6 hours of sleep per night had higher profit margins and faster growth. These results suggest that if a business wants to prosper, it should hire only people who need less than 6 hours of sleep per night."
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.

The argument presented here explains about how the amount of sleep is correlated with the success achieved in advertising industry. However the argument contains logical fallacies which is highlighted by the statements, that rests on dubious assumption.
The author uses a survey to present the findings. At first it seems plausible but after further scrutiny it heightens the flaw. As mentioned ‘300 male and female’ were the subjects for the survey but the author never mentions the ratio of male to female. The unstated assumption is that there would have been equal or nearly equal distribution of both sex. If this proves to be false then this would create bias. Thus it will lessen the integrity of the study.
The insight gained from the data is that there is an association between the amount of sleep and the success rate of the employee. However the author makes an assumption that the changes in success rate is due to the sleeping factor solely. In a study like this there must have been myriad of factors which could have altered the results. If the assumption proves unwarranted then the analysts would have to revisit the data and make an insightful decision about what was the true factor for the change. Thus this could negate the whole study and the hypothesis gained.
Now the argument claims that only the employees needing less than 6 hours of sleep per night have higher profit margins and faster growth but the author assumes that there is no other break taken for a nap. Some employees could have been taking small breaks to sleep which have had helped them to revive and work in a more productive way. Also another assumption that has been made is that only now the profit started to grow with a faster pace. This would require to have a history check on how the company or employee was performing previously. This could have many factors which was causing the change such as the company launched a new product which attracted many customers, or the company have some loyal customers, or maybe the company is been progressing for a long time.
Lastly the the argument concludes the fact that if there is a correlation between these factors and have shown positive results in advertising industry, it will provide similar results in every business possible. Again the author makes an assumption that some effect on one thing would have a congruent effect on the other. This could not be considered true until some evidence is provided about how this factor affect other industries. Thus the argument doesn’t seem promising and would require further details to make a decision based on the study.