Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researchers' … | Verbal SAT Question

When products ordered online are out of stock (OOS), retailers can mitigate consumer frustration by offering discounts for future orders or suggesting substitutions. Hypothesizing that offering to replace an OOS grocery item (e.g., potato chips) with a similar item the consumer previously purchased increases substitution acceptance rates and that this increase is more pronounced for same-flavor substitutions than for same-brand substitutions, Dong Hoang and Els Breugelmans presented two groups of consumers with different mixes of grocery products and recorded their willingness to either reject or accept proposed substitutions of both types. The researchers concluded that the first part of their hypothesis was better supported than the second part was.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researchers’ conclusion about their hypothesis?

Although past-purchase matching reduced overall substitution rejection rates in both consumer groups, a statistically significant preference for previously purchased same-flavor substitutions over previously purchased same-brand substitutions was observed in only one of the groups.

Although past-purchase matching decreased rejection rates for both same-flavor substitutions and same-brand substitutions in only one of the two consumer groups, the observed difference between the two groups was not statistically significant.

Past-purchase matching resulted in notably lower substitution rejection rates in both consumer groups, and the observed positive effect of past-purchase matching was much stronger for same-flavor substitutions than for same-brand substitutions in both groups.

Past-purchase matching increased rejection rates for same-brand substitutions in one of the two consumer groups but not the other, and past-purchase matching had no observable effect on rejection rates for same-flavor substitutions in either of the consumer groups.