Question 53·Hard·Inferences
To assess whether personalized audio guides could help visitors discover less prominent artworks, a museum piloted an app that recommended pieces based on each visitor’s stated interests and their linger patterns in the first gallery. The app was randomly offered to half of Saturday visitors; the others used the standard guide. Compared with the standard-guide group, app users spent, on average, 38% more time at works that received fewer than 10,000 annual visits, but only 5% more time at the museum’s ten most-visited works. Total time in the museum did not differ between groups, and exit surveys showed similar overall satisfaction. These findings suggest that _____
Which choice most logically completes the text?
For data-based inference completion questions, first underline the key statistics and note which quantities increased, decreased, or stayed the same. Then, before looking at answers, briefly summarize the pattern in your own words (for example, “time shifted toward X, but total time and satisfaction stayed the same”). Eliminate any choice that contradicts a stated fact (like saying something increased when the passage says it did not differ) or that introduces new, unsupported ideas. Choose the option that accurately generalizes the given data without adding extra claims.
Hints
Focus on what the experiment measured
Look closely at what changed between the app users and the standard-guide users: what specific numbers are reported about how they spent their time?
Notice what stayed the same
Pay attention to the statements about total time in the museum and overall satisfaction. Do these show an increase, a decrease, or no change?
Turn the numbers into a general statement
Try to restate, in your own words, the pattern of time spent at less-visited works versus the most-visited works, and then look for the answer choice that best sums up that pattern without adding new claims.
Step-by-step Explanation
Clarify the study’s goal and setup
The first sentence states the purpose: to see whether personalized audio guides could help visitors discover less prominent artworks. The museum tested this by giving half the visitors a personalized app and the other half a standard guide, then comparing how they behaved.
Extract the key results
Identify the main findings:
- App users spent 38% more time at works that get fewer than 10,000 annual visits.
- App users spent only 5% more time at the ten most-visited works.
- Total time in the museum did not differ between the app group and the standard-guide group.
- Overall satisfaction was similar in exit surveys. These details tell you what changed (where time was spent) and what did not change (total time and satisfaction).
Infer what the pattern of time differences means
Because total time in the museum stayed the same, the extra time app users spent at less-visited works must have come from shifting how they used their time, not from adding more total minutes. The much larger increase at less-visited works (38%) than at the top ten works (5%) shows that attention moved toward less prominent pieces while visits overall stayed about the same.
Match a conclusion to the evidence and eliminate mismatches
Now check each option against the facts:
- Any choice that says total time in the museum or satisfaction increased must be wrong, because the passage says they did not differ.
- Any choice that claims the standard guide was better or that the app discouraged visits to popular works contradicts the reported time increases for app users. The only option that correctly captures that the app shifted visitors’ attention toward less-visited works without lengthening visits overall is:
A) personalized recommendations primarily redistributed attention toward less-visited works rather than lengthening visits overall.