4th stock issue
 Significance means that the issue addressed by the
Affirmative team is a major force affecting a large
group.
 The penalty for not proving Significance is to lose
the round.
 The Affirmative team must prove that their case will
have significance. They are required to prove that
their justification [reason] is something major that
affects a large number of people. For example, if
the Affirmative
 Significance is relative to the size of the group with
which you are working.
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When you are on the Affirmative, you want your
control group to be as small as possible, to make it
easier to achieve significance.
When you are on the Negative, you want the
control group to be as large as possible, to make it
harder for the Affirmative to achieve significance.
Definitions – you will want the definition of
significance to be different depending on whether
you are affirmative or negative.
Therefore – you need to have as many definitions
of significance as possible in your Debate file box
when competing in a Debate tournament!
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Remember that the judge is the one who
decides which definition is better. Both the
AFFIRMATIVE and the NEGATIVE will present
competing definitions, and try to persuade
the judge which definition is best under the
circumstances. If the AFFIRMATIVE is
presenting a COMMON-USE DEFINITION and
the NEGATIVE counters with an ECONOMIC
DEFINITION OF STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE, it
gives the judge two completely different,
competing definitions from which to decide.
Let’s talk for a moment about PERCENTAGES.
Percentages are frequently thrown around in
debate rounds. One of the things you need
to understand:
 Percentages mean NOTHING unless you
know the baseline with which you began.
 PERCENTAGES ARE RELATIVE TO The baseline
with which you start [how much you have in
the Status Quo at the beginning of the
round], and Whether you are increasing or
decreasing [it is much easier to be significant
with a decrease than with an increase
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Your best strategy when the other team
argues PERCENTAGES [regardless of
whether you are Affirmative and
Negative], is to ask the following
question in cross-ex:
How much ______________________ are
you starting with?
(foreign aid, economic assistance,
investment, trade, energy investment,
imports, etc)
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So, in summary, when you are preparing to
debate, you should gather as many
definitions of SIGNIFICANCE
as you can.
When you are on the AFFIRMATIVE, you
should use definitions that define significance
in the SMALLEST WAY POSSIBLE. When you
are on the NEGATIVE, you should use
definitions that define significance in the
LARGEST WAY POSSIBLE. And when the other
team argues STATISTICS, you should always
question the baseline with which they are
starting.
5th Stock Issue
 Solvency relates to whether the
Affirmative plan will SOLVE FOR THE
HARMS they have cited and Whether the
Affirmative plan will PRODUCE THE
ADVANTAGES(S) they have claimed
 Solvency covers two areas:

Solvency of Harms :This means that the
Affirmative plan ELIMINATES THE HARM
they have identified in the current
system.
2. Solvency of Advantages: This means
that the Affirmative plan ACHIEVES THE
ADVANTAGES(S) they have said they
can achieve.
1.
Some solvency arguments might include:
1. The PUBLIC WILL CIRCUMVENT the plan.
2. There are OTHER CAUSES of the
problem.
3. These are not the causes of the problem
 The Affirmative team must prove that
their case has solvency.
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To have solvency, the affirmative team
must have 3 things:
1. They must prove the affirmative plan WILL
function
2. They must prove the aff plan will solve any
harm they have cited
3. They must prove the aff plan will solve any
advantages they have claimed
 The Negative team will argue that the
Affirmative plan will not have solvency.
Negative will argue that the Affirmative
plan:

Will not function
 Will not eliminate the harms they’ve cited
 Will not produce the advantages they
have cited
 When you are writing your Affirmative
case, you should think about these issues
and choose your HARMS and
ADVANTAGES more carefully. You will also
think about the types of things other teams
will argue against your case and prepare
answers ahead of time.
