A ball is whirled on the end of a string in a horizontal circle of radius R at constant speed v. The centripetal acceleration of the ball can be increased by a factor of 4 by:
keeping the speed fixed and decreasing the radius by a factor of 4.
Centripetal Acceleration =v2R or R4π2T2. There are only 3 variables we can alter to increase this acceleration by a factor of 4. So keeping v fixed and decreasing R by a factor of 4 is the right one.