SAT OwlA software company let employees choose whether to work from home. Those who chose to do so completed about 15 percent more tasks per week than those who stayed in the office. Encouraged, the company ran a second trial in which it randomly assigned employees to work from home or in the office. This time, the two groups completed about the same number of tasks. These results suggest that the difference in the first trial ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
was caused by the office being a more distracting place to work than employees' homes.
occurred because the second trial lasted much longer than the first trial did.
would have been even larger if more of the employees had chosen to work from home.
reflected who chose to work from home rather than any effect of working at home.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D
When employees picked their own location, home workers did more. When location was assigned at random, the gap disappeared. So the first gap likely came from who chose to work from home, not from working at home, choice D.
Choice A is the natural first guess, but if the office were simply more distracting, randomly assigned home workers should also have done more.
Why the other choices are wrong
- A. If the office were more distracting, the randomly assigned home workers should also have done more, but they didn't.
- B. The text gives no information about how long either trial lasted.
- C. The random trial suggests location itself made no difference, so more volunteers wouldn't be expected to widen the gap.
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