Unit 8 · Detecting Reasoning Errors
School Survey — Reverse Causation Error
Lesson 4 of 34
About this lesson
A school survey found that heavy bedtime readers slept fewer hours. John concludes reading stops you sleeping. But what if the sleepless students are reading to pass the time — not the other way around?
Chapters
Question
Children at John's school were asked to complete a questionnaire about their sleeping habits, to find out if they were getting enough sleep. The survey found that people who read a lot at bedtime slept fewer hours (on average) per night than people who didn't.
John: "This shows that reading at night does not help you to get to sleep."
Which one of the following sentences shows the mistake that John has made?
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