analysis of an argument(gmat practice)

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

"Two years 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 to confidently identify one place, at least, where schools are good, housing is affordable, people are friendly, the environment is safe, and the arts flourish."

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of 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 refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.
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The argument presented is not reasonable as it tries to extrapolate the provided information to get a convenient conclusion. An assumption which is clearly evident is that information about one city in a state ( which would consist of several/many cities ) is sufficient to predict how the rest of the state would be.
The validity of the information obtained from the survey itself not established as it largely depends on the people who have taken part in the survey. We do not have information about how many people were surveyed , from what social standing they are and what their inclinations are.

Assuming that the survey is reliable , then a family which wants to locate a suitable place to live in city L might be able to get some useful information from the survey . However , to conclude that the family will surely benefit from the survey and definitely find a place where it might be satisfied with the schools,housing , people etc. is wishful thinking . There is not enough evidence to conclude so.

One more reason why this argument does not hold much water is that the factors which are considered to identify a place , viz. schools,housing,people,environment and the arts are all subjective. Schools which might be affordable to a rich family may not be so for a relatively poor family. Housing follows the same logic. Whether the people are friendly is again dependant of the perception of the families . They might find someone friendly whereas the neighbours may not . A safe environment can depend on many factors. What is safe for one family may not be safe for another.

If we had further information about the state in which city L is present, then the argument may be more reasonable using known data to come to a conclusion. Supposing we knew that the cities in the state were more or less similar with respect to the factors mentioned ,then the argument could be considered more reasonable.