4.1 The Core Strategy
The "3-Minute Investment" Rule
Because you get three questions from one set of data, it is worth investing 3-4 minutes upfront to fully read and understand all tabs before looking at the first question.
-
1
Contextual Foundation: Absorb the organizational narrative (who is emailing whom? what is the goal?).
-
2
Cross-Source Mapping: Identify links. E.g., Tab 1 mentions a budget, Tab 2 gives the cost per person.
-
3
Tone Analysis: "Try not to exceed" vs "Do not exceed". These nuances determine the answer.
Email from administrator to research staff
January 15, 10:46 a.m.
Yesterday was the deadline for our receipt of completed surveys from doctors who were invited to participate in the Medical Practice Priorities Survey. Did we get enough returns from this original group of invitees to get reliable statistics? Do we need to invite additional participants?
Consider each of the following statements. Does the information in the three emails support the inference as stated?
The administrator is unwilling to invite as many participants in the second group as were invited in the first group.
The project coordinator does not expect to be able to meet the goal for numbers of completed surveys.
The administrator is willing to accept some risk of exceeding the budget.
