A critical comparison of experimental data and theoretical calculations of the relative strengths for populating the Ar II 2Se states following high-energy photoionisation ( gamma , e) and binary (e, 2e) processes is presented. There is a difference in reported pole strengths (peak areas) of the discrete Ar II states (formed by the ejection of a 3s electron) derived from the two techniques. In addition, the lack of strength in the Ar II continuum (i.e. for Ar2++e) reported in the ( gamma ,e) experiments is in contrast with theoretical calculations and binary (e, 2e) experiments. The possible problems of background subtraction in the ( gamma , e) experiment are discussed and it is noted that if the background function is determined in a region of the spectrum where considerable strength in the double ionisation continuum exists, the relative strengths for the satellite lines will be systematically underestimated. It is shown that removal of this defect in the interpretation of the ( gamma , e) experiment should result in similar discrepancies between the ( gamma , e) and binary (e, 2e) measurements.