V05-35

Question

The board of directors of the city art museum has begun discussing ways to deal with a large and unexpected budget shortfall. Several prominent members of the board suggest suspending free admission days, which occur every Tuesday, with the additional revenue to go directly into day-to-day operating costs.
 
The answer to which of the following questions is LEAST directly relevant to the board members’ consideration of whether suspending free admission days will correct the shortfall in the museum budget?

A. How many people are expected to pay for admission on days that were previously free?
B. Do most members of the board agree that this is the best solution?
C. What percentage of the budget shortfall are day-to-day operating costs?
D. Did the free admission days have any impact on creating the budget problems?
E. Will the money generated from the plan be sufficient to cover day-to-day operating costs?

chaudhurysr · Accepted Answer

I am not convinced. I chose D vs B.

D says "The answer to this question will allow board members to determine whether the free admission days were part of the budget problem. It is relevant".

Lets say X, Y and Z are reasons for the budget shortfall. It is not necessary that only X, Y and Z can correct the problem. Maybe another option P can help the correct the problem even though P may not have caused it.

The free admission case may not necessarily have been the cause of budget shortfall. Maybe some other higher priority project sucked most of the budget, and hence the Board decided to suspend the free service in order to make up some part of the budget. So how is D relevant??

On the other hand, the question says "least relevant to  board members’ consideration  of whether suspending free admission days will correct the shortfall in the museum budget". 
Well... the board will consider this proposal only when majority of the members agree that this is the best solution. If majority believe this is NOT the best solution and hence disagree, then this proposal will NOT be considered. So option B IS RELEVANT to the board's consideration.

Bunuel · Answer

Official Solution:

The board of directors of the city art museum has begun discussing ways to deal with a large and unexpected budget shortfall. Several prominent members of the board suggest suspending free admission days, which occur every Tuesday, with the additional revenue to go directly into day-to-day operating costs.
 
The answer to which of the following questions is LEAST directly relevant to the board members’ consideration of whether suspending free admission days will correct the shortfall in the museum budget?

A. How many people are expected to pay for admission on days that were previously free?
B. Do most members of the board agree that this is the best solution?
C. What percentage of the budget shortfall are day-to-day operating costs?
D. Did the free admission days have any impact on creating the budget problems?
E. Will the money generated from the plan be sufficient to cover day-to-day operating costs?

Situation : Members of the board of directors of a museum propose suspending free admission days to correct a budget shortfall.
 
 Reasoning :  The answer to which question is irrelevant in determining the success of the plan?  To answer this question, consider what information can be gained by answering each individual question, then determine whether that information is relevant. The plan is to eliminate free entrance and to use money gained from charging admission to pay for daily operating costs. Any information that will suggest the success or failure of the plan is relevant, and that answer choice can be eliminated.
 
A. The answer to this question will provide information about how much money will be raised by suspending free admission days. It is relevant.
 
 B. CORRECT.  The answer to this question will not provide any directly relevant information about whether the plan will be successful. If the plan is not sound, it will fail even if most members  do  agree to implement it.
 
C. The answer to this question will tell how much of the budget shortfall can be corrected by using additional revenue to cover operating costs. It is relevant.
 
D. The answer to this question will allow board members to determine whether the free admission days were part of the budget problem. It is relevant.
 
E. Though covering daily operating costs may not completely correct the budget shortfall, knowledge of  how much  positive impact this aspect can have on the overall plan is relevant.

Answer: B

Navinder · Answer

If we consider the answer to choice E, It can be "yes" or "no". Now, if it's yes we know that policy is good but even if it is no then also it can be helpful. The costs need not be sufficient to help the museum. So, I feel even answer to choice E is irrelevant.

sayantanc2k · Answer

If the money is not sufficient then it will not "correct the shortfall" (though it will improve to an extent). So E is relevant - B has much less relevance to the argument. Since the question asks which is the least relevant option, B is the correct answer.

swahareddy · Answer

How does it matter whether day-to-day is 90% or 10%.  We want to find ways to bridge the overall  shortfall, not just day-to-day.
It just so happens that Free Tuesdays will cover (some amount of) the shortfall in day-to-day operating costs.

Won't the answer to this question be of least relevance?

Aritrakarak · Answer

I don’t quite agree with the solution. Option D talks about the impact of the free days on the budgetary shortfall. This however, in my opinion, provides the least support since the shortfall, as a problem, has already occurred. Analysis on whether the free days caused this problem or not will not help in evaluating the success of the plan.

On the other hand, whether or not most board members agree with this solution would directly impact the soundness of the plan. If they agree, then by deduction the plan is sound, if they don’t and the plan is still carried out, thats an unethical approach towards the solution.

hr1212 · Answer

Agreed. I also don’t like multiple options here as answering yes or no doesn’t justify the outcome for LEAST likely as there are good reasons to break many.

bb  - What are your thoughts on this? Do you feel we should rework this to make it less ambiguous?

Amity007 · Answer

Hi Bunuel,

Can you tell me why this logic is wrong behind not going with option B?
" the board will consider this proposal only when majority of the members agree that this is the best solution. If majority believe this is NOT the best solution and hence disagree, then this proposal will NOT be considered. So option B IS RELEVANT to the board's consideration. "

AbhishekP220108 · Answer

Hi  Amity007 , let me help figure out why option B is least relevant.

The argument states that "  Several prominent members of the board suggest suspending free admission days".  From the word "several", we don't know whether it is more than 50% of members or fewer than 50% members.

So, even if most of the members agree that this is the best solution, but when the revenue is checked, the other members who do not agree reveal that the solution has a flaw. This option doesn't help much to judge the solution provided. If the plan is not good, the plan is going to fail even if most members agree to implement it.

And if not most of the members agree, but the solution is still good for revenue. After evaluating the other factor, this option still doesn't help much.

But when we look at the other options, they are too strong in comparison to B, to judge whether the plan is good to go or not. The question is about LEAST relevant, and B is least among all given.

V05-35

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