Q25 - A study conducted over a

[kmewmewblue]

I reached to (B) by eliminating others.
So is (B) correct because it has no effect?

[timmydoeslsat]

You are right. Choice B does not help to explain the differing times of visitors that went to the special exhibition and those that did not.

A plan was considered and not enacted. No way will that help us explain it. Even if the plan was to be enacted, how would extending hours at the museum help with our discrepancy? It wouldn't.

[erho]

Could you explain why D could help explain the differing average lengths of visits?

[timmydoeslsat]

We are told that when the museum was not featuring a special exhibition, the visiters would spend 45 more minutes than when the museum did have the special exhibition.

We need something to help explain why people are not staying as long when the SE is occurring. Choice D gives us an idea of a restriction being imposed on the visitors. Some kind of deterrence to staying a certain length of time.

[Sweetangel]

Need an explanation for this please! Why is E incorrect?

[christine.defenbaugh]

Thanks for posting, Sweetangel!

We have an Explain the discrepancy question, so we are looking for an answer that helps resolve the weird thing - although in this case, we are actually looking for four potential explanations! Our correct answer is going to be the odd man out - it will either be irrelevant or make the situation even weirder!

So what's the weird thing? Well, during special exhibitions the museum has more patrons than normal, but they stay for a lot less time on average than normal too. Now, it makes a lot of sense that a special exhibition might draw higher attendance - so that part's not weird. What's weird is that these patrons stay at the museum for less time than normal. Why in the world would that be?

Any answer that helps provide a distinct possible explanation for this difference in length of stay will do! Let's spin through the four helpful answers:

(A) If the special exhibition attendees visit fewer exhibits than normal, that would definitely help explain why the average length of stay at the museum is shorter! Fewer exhibits seen = less total time at the museum, all things being equal.

(C) If people are showing up at the special exhibition just to be able to say they'd gone, then they aren't going to be as inclined to stick around and wander the museum for hours. So, if this is the motivation, you might have a lot of people just popping in and out of the museum in a very short visit, driving the average length of stay way down!

(D) As timmydoeslsat points out, if the tickets are only issued for a one-hour period, that might force attendees to leave earlier than they might otherwise. This is an explicit time restriction imposed on the special exhibit-goers that may not be imposed on regular attendees in the off-season.

(E) While this would not impose the specific time restriction on special-exhibit-goers that (D) does, it still offers a restriction. If these organized tours do not have the opportunity to browse, that could easily force people to leave the museum before they might have if left to their own devices.

So, in our four explanations for this weirdly shortened museum visit, we have two answers that suggest the exhibit-goers do not want to stay as long as the off-season museum-goers do: (A) and (C). We also have two externally imposed time restrictions placed on exhibit-goers: (D) and (E).

That leaves us with (B). This might look tempting if you thought "well, maybe the exhibit-goers can't stay as long as they would like to, because the museum closes." If the museum were open for fewer hours than normal, then maybe that could help explain the difference. But the museum is still open the same normal hours! The rejected plan was simply for extended hours.

So, if the normal museum hours force exhibit-goers to leave before they might want to, the exact same thing would theoretically happen to museum-goers in the off-season!

To explain this weirdness of shortened stay, we need a difference between the exhibit-goers and the museum-goers in the off-season -- either a difference in the attendees themselves, or some difference in the restrictions placed upon them. (B), though, is actually telling us that the museum hours are the same in both situations. This can't help explain the difference at all!

I hope this helps clear things up a bit!

[Sweetangel]

Great! Thank you!

[hanhansummer]

But I still have a problem with D.

D says the admission tickets of the special exhibitions are issued for a specific 1-h on a specific day. So that means if people want to see the special exhibitions, it is more difficult for them to get a ticket, because they may need to arrange time to buy a ticket. But the tickets do not set a limitation on the visiting time. Why will that explain the shorter time people visit a special exhibition.

Do you mean the scenario is like the museum is going to have a specific exhibition this afternoon, and they only issue the tickets starting at 13 o'clock a.m., so that leaves the visitors only half a day to spend on the exhibition.

(I am typing my question, and I just happen to think of this situation. But I still need to check my thoughts. Thanks!)