A study question tests what conclusion you can draw from comparing groups. Read the words leading into the blank to see what you need to conclude, then name each group and what it showed. When the study compares two approaches, track the same measured result for both. Keep your prediction close to the results: a difference supports a claim about that measured result, not every possible benefit. Wrong choices often turn a narrow finding into a claim the study never tested.
Hints
- Hint 1
Start with the two groups of nine towns. Pair what officials changed with the result in each group.
- Hint 2
Check what the study actually measured. How far can you take a conclusion based on that measure?
Step-by-step
Compare the groups
Step 1Match each approach to its result
The study tracks average weekly walking time, so we need a conclusion about that measured result. What happened in each group of nine towns? Walking increased in the towns with new walking loops but showed no measurable change in the towns with new recreation centers. Let's stay close to those results: the loops were linked to a walking gain that the centers weren't.
- Step 2
Set the limits of the finding
How far can we take the change in average weekly walking time? The study didn't measure interest or preference. The claim that a center makes people less interested goes too far, because no gain in walking doesn't mean a drop in interest. Saying residents generally prefer outdoor walking goes past the text, because their use of indoor exercise spaces wasn't tracked. And too limited to suggest anything dismisses a study that does let us cautiously compare how much walking changed in each group.
- Step 3
Check the routes and the claim
Test modest walking routes against how the loops were built. Were the routes small and nearby? They were short, well-lit walking loops within a 10-minute walk of most homes, so that part fits. The words may raise make a cautious claim, not a guarantee, and the comparison stays about weekly walking, which is what researchers measured. Choice A.