The following appeared as part of an article in a business magazine.

"A recent study rating 300 male and female 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 six hours of sleep per night had higher profit margins and faster growth. On the basis of this study, we recommend that businesses hire only people who need less than six hours of sleep per night."

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.


(not in full length)

Several questions to be addressed and more information to be gathered... this argument seems to lead to a hasty conclusion...

1. Sample of 300 people is not significant and the study may have large standard deviation or sampling error. Sample of advertising firms may not be representative of the respective population either. No information on the geographical area or the time of the year the study was conducted. Very often executives tend to work more and be more efficient because deadlines approach.

2. How many men and how many women? The two sexes do not correspond to the quantity and quality of sleep in the same way - a matter of biology and physiology. In addition, there are other factors that play a significant role in having fewer hours of sleep, such as large amounts of coffee or other stimulative drinks or pills. Even then, men and women don't correspond equally.

3. Not only the executives contribute to the firm's success and profit increase. Other employees may be even more important as to the amount of work they handle and finish in an average business day.

The conclusion drawn by the author of the article could be unwarranted and overturned if the answers to the above questions come to light. However, there may be some truth in the author's argument if these executives spend more time working than sleeping and thus they are more focused in their professional than their personal life. But, again, this is something that we cannot consider valid based just on this information and, therefore, a more extended study and perhaps the opinions of experts are needed to draw safer conclusions.