Part 1. Definition
You are given a background paragraph that describes one or more causal or qualitative relationships such as a relationship in economics or a scientific law and a story that makes use of the concepts or the relationship described in the provided paragraph. You need to come up with a question about the story that requires an understanding of the relationship described in the background paragraph. The generated question should not be answerable without both the background and story. Write a question about the story that requires a relationship in the background paragraph to answer. Check whether your question requires both the background paragraph and the story to answer. If your question can be answered by only one of these, try to rewrite your question so that it requires both. Note that "flipping" a word in the question can give rise to a new question where the answer will be different from the original question. Often, "flipping" a word gives rise to flipping the direction of the relationship, for example, from "increase" to "decrease."
Part 2. Example
Background Paragraph: A rise in price of a good or service almost always decreases the quantity demanded of that good or service. Conversely, a fall in price will increase the quantity demanded. When the price of a gallon of gasoline increases, for example, people look for ways to reduce their consumption by combining several errands, commuting by carpool or mass transit, or taking weekend or vacation trips closer to home. Economists call this inverse relationship between price and quantity demanded the law of demand. The law of demand assumes that all other variables that affect demand (which we explain in the next module) are held constant.
Story: The AAA auto club does a weekly report on the prices of gas and diesel in various cities. Historically, the prices have be fairly stagnant, but this week their report garnered widespread attention as the prices of gas and diesel plunged from last week in Seattle by $0.40 each. However, just across the border in Vancouver, the cost of gas went up dramatically by $0.50.
Answer: Which city will have an increase in demand for gas?
Explanation: This is a good question as it requires understanding of the relationship described in both the background and story (the background mentions "a fall in price will increase the quantity demanded" and the story cites the decreasing price of gas in Seattle).
Part 3. Exercise
Background Paragraph: When you add sugar to a cold drink, you may stir it to help the sugar dissolve. If you don't stir, the sugar may eventually dissolve, but it will take much longer. Stirring is one of several factors that affect how fast a solute dissolves in a solvent. Temperature is another factor. A solid solute dissolves faster at a higher temperature. For example, sugar dissolves faster in hot tea than in ice tea. A third factor that affects the rate of dissolving is the surface area of the solute. For example, if you put granulated sugar in a glass of ice tea, it will dissolve more quickly than the same amount of sugar in a cube. That's because granulated sugar has much more surface area than a cube of sugar. You can see videos of all three factors at these URLs.
Story: Morgan and Jacob are conducting a chemical experiment involving sodium hydroxide. A key part of the reaction is ensuring that the sodium hydroxide is dissolved in water before adding the other materials. Morgan uses a pestle and mortar to crush the sodium hydroxide into a fine powder before adding it to his reaction mixture. Jacob doesn't feel like doing that because he is not very motivated, so he adds the sodium hydroxide in the form of large chunks.
Answer:
Who will be able to add the other materials to their reaction later?