A study by a team including finance professor Madhu Veeraraghavan suggests that exposure to sunshine during the workday can lead...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
A study by a team including finance professor Madhu Veeraraghavan suggests that exposure to sunshine during the workday can lead to overly optimistic behavior. Using data spanning from 1994 to 2010 for a set of US companies, the team compared over 29,000 annual earnings forecasts to the actual earnings later reported by those companies. The team found that the greater the exposure to sunshine at work in the two weeks before a manager submitted an earnings forecast, the more the manager's forecast exceeded what the company actually earned that year.
Which choice best states the function of the underlined sentence in the overall structure of the text?
To summarize the results of the team's analysis
To present a specific example that illustrates the study's findings
To explain part of the methodology used in the team's study
To call out a challenge the team faced in conducting its analysis
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'A study by a team including finance professor Madhu Veeraraghavan suggests that exposure to sunshine during the workday can lead to overly optimistic behavior.' |
|
| 'Using data spanning from 1994 to 2010 for a set of US companies, the team compared over 29,000 annual earnings forecasts to the actual earnings later reported by those companies.' |
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| 'The team found that the greater the exposure to sunshine at work in the two weeks before a manager submitted an earnings forecast, the more the manager's forecast exceeded what the company actually earned that year.' |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Visual Structure Map: STUDY CLAIM: Sunshine leads to overly optimistic behavior, then METHODOLOGY: How they tested using 1994-2010 data and 29K+ forecasts vs actual, then FINDINGS: More sunshine equals bigger gap between forecasts and reality
Main Point: A research study found evidence that workplace sunshine exposure makes managers overly optimistic in their earnings forecasts.
Argument Flow: The passage opens with the study's conclusion, then explains the methodology used to reach that conclusion, and finally details the specific pattern the researchers discovered in their data analysis.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
What's being asked? The function of the underlined sentence in the text's overall structure.
What type of answer do we need? To identify what job or role this specific sentence plays.
Any limiting keywords? 'underlined sentence' which limits us to analyzing just that one sentence, and 'overall structure' means we need to think about how it fits into the passage's organization.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- Looking at our analysis, the underlined sentence comes right after the main claim and describes exactly how the researchers gathered and analyzed their data
- This sentence tells us what time period they studied, what type of companies, how many forecasts they looked at, and what they compared those forecasts to
- These are all classic elements of describing research methods
- The right answer should recognize that this sentence explains the research process or methodology that allowed the team to reach their conclusions
To summarize the results of the team's analysis
- This choice suggests the sentence summarizes results
- The sentence describes data collection and comparison methods, not findings
- Results come in the final sentence, not this one
To present a specific example that illustrates the study's findings
- This choice suggests the sentence provides a specific example
- The sentence describes the overall research approach, not an illustrative case
- There's no example being given here, just methodology
To explain part of the methodology used in the team's study
- This choice correctly identifies the sentence as explaining methodology
- The sentence details exactly how the research was conducted: data timeframe, company type, number of forecasts, and comparison method
- This matches perfectly with our analysis that this sentence describes the research process
To call out a challenge the team faced in conducting its analysis
- This choice suggests the sentence discusses research challenges
- The sentence presents straightforward methodology without mentioning any difficulties
- No problems or obstacles are identified in this sentence