A question about an author’s response tests how they would judge a conclusion in another text. Read the question to find which author responds and what they’re judging. Then separate the findings from the conclusion and read the responding author’s reasons. Decide whether they reject the claim, accept it only within limits, or apply it to new cases. Check the reason as well as the view, because a choice can disagree for a reason the author never gives.
Hints
- Hint 1
In Text 1, separate what Lee measured from what he concluded. What does each part describe?
- Hint 2
Read Morales’s examples and test the link between Lee’s evidence and conclusion. What does each example tell you about that link?
- Hint 3
What would Morales’s proposed data help her assess, and is that what Lee’s conclusion is about?
Step-by-step
Test the link from visits to jobs
Step 1Separate evidence from conclusion
Lee reports that foot traffic and the number of operating establishments remained stable compared with cities without the increases. He then concludes that the wage hikes did not reduce employment. His evidence counts visits and stores, not workers. Morales is judging that conclusion, so let’s test whether those counts can show what happened to workers.
- Step 2
Test what the measures can show
Can visits and store counts stay steady while employment falls? Morales gives examples of cutting worker hours, shifting tasks to self-service kiosks, or consolidating roles without losing customers. Kiosks can take over workers’ tasks, and combined roles can leave fewer people doing the work. A store can also stay open with fewer workers, so unchanged visits and stores don’t guarantee unchanged employment.
- Step 3
Keep the response about employment
What evidence would test Lee’s employment claim? Morales says payroll or hours-worked data would be needed to assess employment effects of minimum wage changes, so she would reject his conclusion as unsupported. The responses about consumer demand and whether wages caused the stable foot traffic are about customers rather than jobs. The response about customer visits increased or decreased gives the requested data the wrong purpose, since payroll and hours tell us about work, not visits.
- Step 4
Check the judgment’s strength
Does overconfident fit Morales’s criticism? The word means more certain than the evidence allows, which matches her description of visits as a weak indicator of employment. The phrase cannot show whether leaves staffing or hour cuts possible without claiming they happened. Choice B.