City L was listed 14th in an annual survey that ranks cities according to the quality of life that can be enjoyed by those living in them.

Argument:

Two year ago, City L was listed 14th in an annual survey that ranks cities according to the quality of life that can be enjoyed by those living in them.  This information will enable people who are moving to the state in which City L is located confidently identify one place, at least, where schools are good, housing is affordable, people are friendly, the environment is safe, and the arts flourish.  

Question:

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and use the evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refuse the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion. 

Answer:

This statement argues that City L is preferred to live in because of an annual survey about the qulity of life ranks City L at 14th.  Good schools, affordable housing expense, fiendliness, safety, and artistic environment are basis of the argument.  However, there are false assumotions that lessen credibility of the statement.

The first issue to be addressed is the condition of survey.  Every survey must show its condition including the number of answers given back, what type of people answered, and what questions are asked.  Since the author does not mention about detail of the survey, this statement leads readers to misunderstand the credibility and transparanvy of the research.  Therefore, the ranking is inconvincing.  

Also, this statement is not trustworthy because there are just five aspects of the quality of life mentioned while people consider much more to decide where to live.  For example, eldery citizens care about availability of medical services to move in.  Business people may think of economy of City L.  However, the author just explained about schools, housing, friendliness, safety, and flourished arts.  More factors must be take into account to determine the quality of life.  

Finally, the rank of City L itself is problematic.  Readers cannot know out of how many cities CIty L is ranked at 14th.  If there are five hundreds of cities, 14th must be honorable.  On the other hand, if the survey just targetted fifteen cities, ranked at 14th is miserable.  Without known the value of ranking, City L is not honored as a good place to live in.  

While it may seem true that City L is identified as a good city to live in due to the survey about the quality of life, there are critical flaws on the assumptions.  The author must show more details about conditions of the survey, all aspects determining the quality of life, and the number of ranks.  Without those explanations, the statement is not convincing enough.