WGU D514 OA EXAM QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS | 2026 UPDATE | 100%
CORRECT.
The quality improvement team is reviewing quarterly incident reports and evaluating the effect
of Six Sigma strategies on the quantity of medication errors over the past two years. The team
hypothesizes a continuous reduction in medical errors for each quarter.The sample consists of
patient clinical and demographic characteristics. Unfortunately, causation cannot be determined
from the data available.Which research method should be used to test the team's hypothesis?
Time-Series
Cross-Sectional
Pretest-posttest
Randomized Control Trial - ANS Time-series
A hospital researcher has access to one year of hospital emergency department claims data. The
researcher is investigating the association of race on the timeliness of delivery of care. The
sample includes information on patient demographics, insurance information, and emergency
department factors. Due to patient confidentiality, the sample does not include patient clinical
information and outcomes.Which research method should be used?
Time-Series
Cross-Sectional
Pretest-posttest
Randomized Control Trial - ANS Cross Sectional
A policy analyst is interested in determining if the prospective payment system (PPS) has
improved hospital efficiency over time during the past ten years. The sample for analysis
consists of ten years of data after the introduction of the PPS and includes measures of
@COPYRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PAGE 1 OF 18
,efficiency and other relevant control variables. The analyst hypothesizes that hospital efficiency
should have increased each year after the PPS was implemented.Which research method should
the analyst use?
Time-Series
Cross-Sectional
Pretest-posttest
Randomized Control Trial - ANS Time-Series
Which type of data analysis could be used in quantitative research?
Reporting the gender of participants
Ranking the severity order with 1 as the worst and 4 as the best
Reporting the distribution of results or outcomes
Using categorical variables with 0=no and 1=yes - ANS Reporting the distribution of results or
outcomes
What is a characteristic of qualitative research methods?
Utilizes large sample sizes
Determines causal relationships
Generalizes results to the population
Introduces subjectivity to data collection - ANS Introduces subjectivity to data collection
Many physician practices now utilize an electronic health record (EHR) system that includes a
secure messaging feature. Some of these practices have extended their contact with patients by
conducting virtual visits between people with diabetes and nurses who are certified diabetes
educators. The remote technology includes the ability to monitor blood glucose data to
determine if these values are within goal range. After six months, the results of the blood
glucose levels for the group participating in the virtual visits were evaluated.Which research
method was used?
Time-series
Clinical trial
Pretest-posttest
@COPYRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PAGE 2 OF 18
, Cross-sectional - ANS Cross-sectional
A researcher wants to determine whether continuity of care is improved with the use of
coordination of care documents among primary care physicians and specialists. The researcher
decides to review various published studies to assess the clinical effectiveness of these
documents on patient outcomes.Which research method is being used?
Case study
Cohort study
Meta-analysis
Literature review - ANS Meta-analysis
The state public health researcher wants to begin a five-year initiative to coordinate
immunizations for children in the foster care system. The results will be compared to previous
years to measure the effectiveness of the initiative.Which research method should be used to
study this initiative?
Case study
Cohort study
Longitudinal study
Pre/post-study - ANS Pre/post-study
Using publicly reported data from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, researchers want
to examine the relationship between 30-day readmissions and mortality rates for patients with
heart failure at five facilities. Before this can be done, researchers need to estimate mortality
rates and readmission rates from heart failure.Which statistical technique should be used to
calculate the estimated rates?
t-test
Analysis of variance
Regression analysis
Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient - ANS Regression analysis
Researchers want to determine if a particular risk factor or risk factors are associated with the
frequency for nonelective readmission within 30 days among patients with diabetes in a
@COPYRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PAGE 3 OF 18
ANSWERS | 2026 UPDATE | 100%
CORRECT.
The quality improvement team is reviewing quarterly incident reports and evaluating the effect
of Six Sigma strategies on the quantity of medication errors over the past two years. The team
hypothesizes a continuous reduction in medical errors for each quarter.The sample consists of
patient clinical and demographic characteristics. Unfortunately, causation cannot be determined
from the data available.Which research method should be used to test the team's hypothesis?
Time-Series
Cross-Sectional
Pretest-posttest
Randomized Control Trial - ANS Time-series
A hospital researcher has access to one year of hospital emergency department claims data. The
researcher is investigating the association of race on the timeliness of delivery of care. The
sample includes information on patient demographics, insurance information, and emergency
department factors. Due to patient confidentiality, the sample does not include patient clinical
information and outcomes.Which research method should be used?
Time-Series
Cross-Sectional
Pretest-posttest
Randomized Control Trial - ANS Cross Sectional
A policy analyst is interested in determining if the prospective payment system (PPS) has
improved hospital efficiency over time during the past ten years. The sample for analysis
consists of ten years of data after the introduction of the PPS and includes measures of
@COPYRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PAGE 1 OF 18
,efficiency and other relevant control variables. The analyst hypothesizes that hospital efficiency
should have increased each year after the PPS was implemented.Which research method should
the analyst use?
Time-Series
Cross-Sectional
Pretest-posttest
Randomized Control Trial - ANS Time-Series
Which type of data analysis could be used in quantitative research?
Reporting the gender of participants
Ranking the severity order with 1 as the worst and 4 as the best
Reporting the distribution of results or outcomes
Using categorical variables with 0=no and 1=yes - ANS Reporting the distribution of results or
outcomes
What is a characteristic of qualitative research methods?
Utilizes large sample sizes
Determines causal relationships
Generalizes results to the population
Introduces subjectivity to data collection - ANS Introduces subjectivity to data collection
Many physician practices now utilize an electronic health record (EHR) system that includes a
secure messaging feature. Some of these practices have extended their contact with patients by
conducting virtual visits between people with diabetes and nurses who are certified diabetes
educators. The remote technology includes the ability to monitor blood glucose data to
determine if these values are within goal range. After six months, the results of the blood
glucose levels for the group participating in the virtual visits were evaluated.Which research
method was used?
Time-series
Clinical trial
Pretest-posttest
@COPYRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PAGE 2 OF 18
, Cross-sectional - ANS Cross-sectional
A researcher wants to determine whether continuity of care is improved with the use of
coordination of care documents among primary care physicians and specialists. The researcher
decides to review various published studies to assess the clinical effectiveness of these
documents on patient outcomes.Which research method is being used?
Case study
Cohort study
Meta-analysis
Literature review - ANS Meta-analysis
The state public health researcher wants to begin a five-year initiative to coordinate
immunizations for children in the foster care system. The results will be compared to previous
years to measure the effectiveness of the initiative.Which research method should be used to
study this initiative?
Case study
Cohort study
Longitudinal study
Pre/post-study - ANS Pre/post-study
Using publicly reported data from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, researchers want
to examine the relationship between 30-day readmissions and mortality rates for patients with
heart failure at five facilities. Before this can be done, researchers need to estimate mortality
rates and readmission rates from heart failure.Which statistical technique should be used to
calculate the estimated rates?
t-test
Analysis of variance
Regression analysis
Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient - ANS Regression analysis
Researchers want to determine if a particular risk factor or risk factors are associated with the
frequency for nonelective readmission within 30 days among patients with diabetes in a
@COPYRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PAGE 3 OF 18
