A poll conducted last month suggested that a McDonald’s branch with a

Question

A poll conducted last month suggested that a McDonald’s branch with a displayed specials menu was more likely to sell super-size meals, even if they weren’t specials. The manager of McDonald’s came to the conclusion that having a displayed specials menu makes customers more likely to super-size orders since the specials menu features large, mouth-watering images of food.

Which of the following, if true, would bolster the McDonald’s manager’s interpretation?

A. According to the poll, customers who ordinarily super-sized their orders tended to order less food when the specials menu was not displayed.
B. 80% percent of those surveyed who ordered the super-sized meals did not order a special.
C. When the specials menu was taken down to be cleaned, no one purchased any specials.
D. Most of the customers who super-sized their orders responded that they had seen the specials menu prior to ordering.
E. The Burger King restaurant next door without a specials menu reported fewer “super-size” sales than the surveyed restaurant.

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chesstitans · Answer

B is surely wrong.
C is not strong enough. In fact, C only tells that there will be customers if the special menus are present. 
A is right b/c of "less food", => supports "likely to sell super sized meals"
E is wrong b/c of quantity, not the size and b/c other restaurants.
D is not an answer b/c there is no relationship between "seen" and "order"

Octobre · Answer

D? 
The manager supposes it is because of the images. So we have to confirm it is indeed because the customers saw the images. That is what D suggests.

gmatexam439 · Answer

Do we have an OE?

I chose D. The argument is about the size of the order NOT the number of orders. Even the conclusion states that " having a displayed specials menu makes customers more likely to super-size orders since the specials menu features large, mouth-watering images of food "; nowhere the argument talks about the # of orders.

Awaiting OE.

Regards

newfolder · Answer

The argument can be strengthened by showing that when cause does not exist, effect also does not exist. Hence A.

It was hard to choose between A and D. D talks about customers seeing the displayed menu whereas the question requires us to show a causal relationship between displayed menu( not necessarily same as customers seeing the menu) and customers giving super-sized orders. Nice question!

gmatexam439 · Answer

Hi  SajjadAhmad ,

Could you please post the OE of this question.

Regards

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Here is the Official Explanation

(A) is the correct choice. Since we’re trying to “bolster,” or strengthen, the manager’s interpretation, it’s helpful to ask, “why?” Why would seeing pictures of food cause customers to order more food? The correct choice will reinforce the stated cause/effect relationship. We can strengthen the claim that visual stimulation causes an increase in desire for food by showing that there is an increase in desire for food in the presence of visual stimulation or by showing that there is a reduced desire for food in the absence of visual stimulation. Answer choice (A) strengthens the manager’s interpretation by suggesting that customers ordered less food when the specials menu was not displayed.

(B), this answer choice does not help relate the visual cue of the specials menu to ordering a super-size meal, and therefore would not bolster the manager’s conclusion.

(C), this choice is out of scope. The argument is only concerned with linking the visual images of food to the increased number of “super-sized” orders. The ordering of the specials themselves is tertiary.

(D), just because seeing the specials menu and super-sizing an order are correlated does not mean that there is a cause/effect relationship between the two variables. Customers may have ordered super-sized meals for any number of reasons other than seeing the specials menu prior to ordering. For example, if the super-sized orders came with a free drink, customers may prefer super-sized orders for that reason.

(E), there could be many reasons why Burger King next door had fewer “super-size” sales than the surveyed restaurant. This choice is far too vague. Look for a more specific choice to bolster the manager’s interpretation: that “seeing” pictures of food leads to ordering more food.

Hope it helps

catonaroof · Answer

D is incorrect since it is also possible that most customers in general responded that they had seen the specials menu prior to ordering. Thus, customers who did not super size their order may also have seen the specials menu. Therefore, D does not make the conclusion any more credible.

akkii26 · Answer

Even I am one of those who wants D to be the correct answer but it is not. The correct answer is A.
Here is my explanation of it:
D Most of the customers who super-sized their orders responded that they had seen the specials menu prior to ordering.
This option only tells us that people who ordered super sized meals accepted to have seen the special menu before ordering but it does not say or prove that there are not other people who would not be buying smaller meals despite the display of the special menu. So, if you think about it this way, there will be people buying smaller meals even when special menu is displayed and therefore, this option does not support the fact that it is indeed the special menu that is prompting the customers to purchase super sized meals.

However, A states that people who do otherwise buy super sized meals do not buy them when special menus are not displayed which in my opinion clearly strengthens the argument.

Hope I am not making a fool out of myself with this explanation

KarishmaB · Answer

- A poll suggested that a branch with a displayed specials menu was more likely to sell super size meals - the specials menu features large, mouth-watering images of food Conclusion: Hence, displaying specials menu makes customers more likely to super-size orders We need to strengthen this cause - displaying "specials menu" leads to more "super size orders" A. According to the poll, customers who ordinarily super-sized their orders tended to order less food when the specials menu was not displayed. The absence of specials menu led to fewer super sized orders. So it does make sense that the displaying of specials menu was leading to more super-size orders. Hence this makes our conclusion more likely. "Customers who ordinarily super-sized their orders" means "people who usually bought big meals". So it says that the same people who bought big meals usually started buying small meals when the specials menu was not displayed. So it does seem that their buying big meals had something to do with the display of specials menu. Otherwise, same people, same place, the only difference was the display of that menu. B. 80% percent of those surveyed who ordered the super-sized meals did not order a special. Whether people ordered special meals or not is irrelevant. They ordered big meals is the only thing under scanner. C. When the specials menu was taken down to be cleaned, no one purchased any specials. Again, whether people purchased specials meals or not is irrelevant. We needed info on what happened to super-size orders when the specials board was taken down. D. Most of the customers who super-sized their orders responded that they had seen the specials menu prior to ordering. Note that if you display a board, it is likely that most people who walk in will see it. People ordering super sized food had seen it does not help much. If we additionally get to know that people who did not order super size meals had NOT SEEN the board, then that would create the link. People who saw the board ordered big meals, people who did not see it did not order big meals. E. The Burger King restaurant next door without a specials menu reported fewer “super-size” sales than the surveyed restaurant. What happens at the Burger King does not impact us at all. Different brands. Answer (A) This reminds me of another question: https://gmatclub.com/forum/studies-in-r ... dit%20card

AdityaHongunti · Answer

VeritasKarishma

Thank you for your response.
My reasoning:
Author just tells us that display of something led to more order. What I thought is that we have to strengthen this link. That is why I Thot that for this link to be effective people actually have to notice the display ... But now I think it is actually implicit and not some new info ...am I right??? Also I Thot that seeing the display me actually give us that feeling of ordering more. Now is this already implicit??

Choice A is the classic : no cause no effect... But why precisely isn't D right?? If the customers actually did see the display then that connect the cause and effect even more... We are just given 2 instances and then concluded a cause and effect but we are not given any actual cause and effect...so D actually gives us a link right, albeit a very indirect one... please explain...
I understand how A is right...but why is D wrong?
Also in A we are only talking about a specific group "who ORDINARILY order supersizrf food" so can we safely assume that this group is representative of entire group??

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shiblee · Answer

A is clear winner . D is wrong because Seeing special menu has nothing to do with the effect that displaying menu can bring.

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Kapil1650 · Answer

I chose A for the same reason as did Shiblee. 
It was sort of a better guess between A and D !! :😋

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