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Soru

Zorluk: OrtaResolve the Paradox

A municipal library system recently abolished all late fees on overdue books to encourage patrons to return borrowed materials without fear of financial penalty. Following the implementation of this policy, library records indicated that the average duration a borrowed book remained overdue before being returned increased by two weeks. Nevertheless, the total percentage of checked-out books that were permanently lost or never returned at all decreased by more than half. Which of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy described above?

  1. A
    Patrons who borrow books for academic research routinely return materials much later than patrons who borrow popular fiction.
  2. B
    The total cost to the municipal library system of replacing unreturned books previously exceeded the annual revenue generated from late fee collections.
  3. Under the previous policy, patrons who accrued substantial late fees frequently kept overdue books indefinitely to avoid penalties, whereas without fines, they eventually returned them after an extended delay.Cevap
  4. D
    Most neighboring municipal library systems that eliminated overdue fines experienced a substantial increase in the total number of new library card registrations.
  5. E
    Eliminating late fees led patrons to believe that the library had ceased tracking its inventory, resulting in widespread disregard for due dates.

Cevap

The statement explaining that patrons who previously kept books indefinitely to evade compounding fines now return them after extended delays reconciles both observed trends.
The correct choice successfully bridges both facts: by removing punitive compounding fines, patrons who previously kept books indefinitely to avoid paying large penalties were willing to return them. Because these materials were returned after long periods rather than kept forever, they were no longer counted as permanent losses (explaining the drop in lost books) and their extended return times pulled up the average overdue duration (explaining the increase in average overdue time).

Adım Adım Çözüm

1
Identify the two competing facts in the stimulus.
Fact 1: The average duration overdue books remained out before being returned increased by two weeks. Fact 2: The overall proportion of books permanently lost or never returned dropped by over 50%.
Resolving a paradox requires isolating both sides of the apparent conflict before looking for an explanatory bridge.
2
Formulate the necessary characteristics of a resolving statement.
The correct explanation must provide a mechanism where the very same change allows or causes returned books to take longer on average while simultaneously preventing books from being permanently kept.
An effective resolution cannot deny either fact; it must explain how both outcomes can coexist logically under the new policy.
3
Evaluate the choices to locate the causal bridge.
The explanation showing that long-overdue materials that previously became permanent losses are now returned after significant delays accounts for both a higher average overdue duration among returned items and a sharp drop in permanent losses.
Converting permanent losses into late returns adds high overdue-day values into the average return calculation while directly lowering the unreturned book count.

Anahtar Kavram

Reconciling two seemingly conflicting empirical trends with a single compensatory behavioral mechanism
Tahmini Süre:1m 15s
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Konular

Resolve the Paradox

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