Self-study
A company produced a small car that costs much less—but is also much less safe—than any car previously available. ████████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ███ ███ █████████ █████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████ ███
"Surprising" Phenomenon
A cheap new car is much less safe than any other car previously available, yet most customers increased their road safety after buying it.
Objective
The right answer will be a hypothesis that explains how a relatively unsafe car can increase road safety. For examole, the explanation may state that drivers are more likely to be careful on the roads knowing their vehicle is unsafe.
1.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ███████
a
The company surveyed █████████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ████ █████████ █████ ████ ████ █████ ███████
Customers weren't concerned with safety, but that doesn't tell us why they were safer on the roads after buying the new car. If anything, this undermines the possibility that buyers started driving better.
b
The company could █████████████ ████████ ███ █████ ██████ ███████ ████████████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ █████
We’re not interested in what the company could do. We’re interested in how this car somehow improved customers' road safety despite in fact being less safe than other cars.
c
Most people who ██████ ███ ███ ███ ████ ████████ ███████ ████ ██ ██ ████ ████ ████ ████ █████ █████
If customers were unaware that the car was relatively unsafe, then we have no reason to believe they would start to drive more carefully. This doesn’t resolve anything.
d
Many households that ██████████ █████ ██████ ████ ███ ███ ███ ███ ██████ ████
Why would having two cars in their household make someone safer on the road? This doesn’t resolve the paradox that driving a relatively unsafe car made these customers safer.
e
Most people who ██████ ███ ███ ███ ██████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████████ █████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ███ ███ ████
Even though the car in question is unsafe compared to other cars, it’s a big step up safety-wise from bicycles and motorcycles. Hence, customers—who previously rode bicycles or motorcycles—became safer on the roads once they bought the new car.