The track coach at a particular school had her student athletes practi

Explanation

The track coach at a particular school had her student athletes practice running outside of scheduled training sessions and report details to her. She had them report speed as kilometers run divided by time running, whether they wore running shoes or other athletic shoes, whether they ran on the school track or not, and whether the wind was ≥ 3 meters per second (m/s) or < 3 m/s. She found that, overall, reports of greater than average speeds correlated with reports of both winds < 3 m/s and wearing running shoes. She also found that reports of less than average speeds correlated with reports of both winds ≥ 3 m/s and wearing shoes other than running shoes. The coach hypothesizes that the wind, and not the type of shoes worn, was responsible for the difference in speed.

The hypothesis indicates that the coach would expect speeds associated with reports of __1__ to be less than speeds associated with reports of __2__

Select for 1 and for 2 the options that create the statement that most accurately reflects the information provided. Make only two selections, one in each column.

The passage presents the following variables that could affect running speed:

wearing running shoes or wearing other athletic shoes

ran on school track or not ran on school track

wind speed ≥ 3 m/s or wind speed < 3 m/s

It also presents the following reported information:

running speed greater than average when wind speed < 3 m/s and less than average when wind speed ≥ 3 m/s

running speed greater than average when wearing running shoes and less than average when not wearing running shoes

Finally, it presents the coach's hypothesis:

the wind, and not the type of shoes worn, was responsible for the difference in speed

To fill the blanks correctly, we need to be careful to notice that the statement with the blanks is about the coach's hypothesis. So, any other information we have from the passage is not relevant to filling the blanks. Thus, choices that indicate that something other than wind speed affects running speed won't correctly fill the blanks.

Let's go to the answer choices.

running on the school track and wind < 3 m/s

This choice mentions wind speed. So, it may fill one of the blanks.

Keep.

wearing shoes other than running shoes and running on the school track

This choice does not mention wind speed.

Eliminate.

wearing running shoes and running on the school track

This choice does not mention wind speed.

Eliminate.

wearing running shoes and wind < 3 m/s

This choice mentions wind speed. So, it may fill one of the blanks.

Keep.

wearing running shoes and wind ≥ 3 m/s

This choice mentions wind speed. So, it may fill one of the blanks.

Keep.

The coach's hypothesis is basically that wind speed does affect running speed and that whether the athlete wore running shoes does not.

However, the first choice involves wind speed and the school track. We don't have information on what the coach believes about the school track. So, in the context of the coach's hypothesis, the effect of the school track is unknown. Thus, the first choice brings in a variable, the choice of school track with an unknown effect.

In contrast, the last two choices involve variables that do appear in the coach's hypothesis: wearing running shoes, which the coach believes has no effect, and wind speed, which the coach believes does affect running speed.

So, unlike the first choice, which brings in a variable with an effect not considered in the hypothesis, in the context of the hypothesis, the last two choices isolate the effect of the wind speed.

Thus, the last two choices will correctly fill the two blanks.

Now, we just have to make sure we put the right choice in the right blank.

The information from the passage is "reports of greater than average speeds correlated with reports of ... winds < 3 m/s," and "reports of less than average speeds correlated with reports of ... winds ≥ 3 m/s."

So, the statement is correct with the blanks filled in the following way:

The hypothesis indicates that the coach would expect speeds associated with reports of wearing running shoes and wind ≥ 3 m/s to be less than speeds associated with reports of wearing running shoes and wind < 3 m/s.

Correct Answer