Question

Following several years of declining advertising sales, the Greenville Times reorganized its advertising sales force. Before reorganization, the sales force was organized geographically, with some sales representatives concentrating on city-center businesses and others concentrating on different outlying regions. The reorganization attempted to increase the sales representatives' knowledge of clients' businesses by having each sales representative deal with only one type of industry or of retailing. After the reorganization, revenue from advertising sales increased.
In assessing whether the improvement in advertising sales can properly be attributed to the reorganization, it would be most helpful to find out which of the following?

• A. What proportion of the total revenue of the Greenville Times is generated by advertising sales?
• B. Has the circulation of the Greenville Times increased substantially in the last two years?
• C. Among all the types of industry and retailing that use the Greenville Times as an advertising vehicle, which type accounts for the largest proportion of the newspaper's advertising sales?
• D. Do any clients of the sales representatives of the Greenville Times have a standing order with the Times for a fixed amount of advertising per month?
• E. Among the advertisers in the Greenville Times, are there more types of retail business or more types of industrial business?

Hint:

For questions evaluating a causal conclusion (X caused Y), always be on the lookout for alternative causes. The best answer choice is often one that asks about a factor that could have also produced the observed effect (Y), thereby challenging the claim that X was the sole cause.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Understanding the Causal Argument
The argument suggests a cause-and-effect relationship.
Cause: Reorganization of the advertising sales force (from geographic to industry-specific).
Effect: Increased revenue from advertising sales.
The implicit conclusion is that the reorganization caused the increase in revenue.

Step 2: Analyzing the Task
The question asks what information would be most helpful in assessing or evaluating this causal claim. This is a classic "evaluate the argument" question type. To do this, we must consider alternative causes. If another factor could have plausibly caused the increase in revenue, then we cannot confidently attribute the success to the reorganization. We are looking for an option that introduces such a potential alternative cause.

Step 3: Evaluating the Options
(A) The proportion of revenue from advertising sales tells us how important this revenue stream is to the newspaper, but it does not help us determine the cause of the increase in that revenue. Whether advertising is 30% or 70% of total revenue, the question of why it grew remains.
(B) This presents a powerful alternative explanation. The value of a newspaper to an advertiser is directly related to its circulation (the number of people who will see the ad). If the newspaper's circulation has increased substantially, it becomes a more attractive advertising vehicle. This increased demand from advertisers would naturally lead to an increase in advertising revenue, completely independent of how the sales force is organized. If the answer is YES, it weakens the original conclusion. If the answer is NO, it strengthens the conclusion by eliminating a key alternative cause. Therefore, finding out the answer to this question is crucial for assessing the argument.
(C) Knowing which industry is the biggest advertiser is descriptive information about the newspaper's client base. It doesn't explain why the total revenue from all advertisers increased recently.
(D) The existence of standing orders would contribute to a stable baseline of revenue, but it doesn't explain a recent increase in revenue. It's a constant factor, not a variable that changed.
(E) The mix of business types (retail vs. industrial) is, like option (C), descriptive information about the advertiser base. It provides no insight into the cause of the recent growth in sales.
Step 4: Final Answer
Option (B) is the correct answer. To determine if the reorganization was the true cause of the increased revenue, it is essential to rule out other significant factors. A substantial increase in circulation is a major confounding variable that, if true, would offer a compelling alternative explanation for the sales growth.