WGU D514|| Objective Assessment.
Questions and Answers||2025||
Q. 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?
a. Time-Series
b. Cross-Sectional
c. Pretest-posttest
d. Randomized Control Trial
Time-series
Q. 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?
a. Time-Series
b. Cross-Sectional
c. Pretest-posttest
d. Randomized Control Trial
Cross-Sectional
Q. 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 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?
a. Time-Series
b. Cross-Sectional
c. Pretest-posttest
d. Randomized Control Trial
Time-Series
Q. Which type of data analysis could be used in quantitative research?
a. Reporting the gender of participants
,b. Ranking the severity order with 1 as the worst and 4 as the best
c. Reporting the distribution of results or outcomes
d. Using categorical variables with 0=no and 1=yes
Reporting the distribution of results or outcomes
Q. What is a characteristic of qualitative research methods?
a. Utilizes large sample sizes
b. Determines causal relationships
c. Generalizes results to the population
d. Introduces subjectivity to data collection
Introduces subjectivity to data collection
Q. 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?
a. Time-series
b. Clinical trial
c. Pretest-posttest
d. Cross-sectional
Cross-sectional
Q. 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?
a. Case study
b. Cohort study
c. Meta-analysis
d. Literature review
Meta-analysis
Q. 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?
a. Case study
b. Cohort study
, c. Longitudinal study
d. Pre/post-study
Pre/post-study
Q. 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?
a. t-test
b. Analysis of variance
c. Regression analysis
d. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient
Regression analysis
Q. 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
metropolitan area. The variables of interest include age, gender, race/ethnicity, and insurance
status. Which statistical technique should be used?
a. Mann-Whitney U test
b. Bayesian approach
c. Regression analysis
d. Wilcoxon signed-rank test
Regression analysis
Q. A hospital researcher is interested in investigating the association between hospital ownership
(i.e., government, investor, and not-for-profit) on overall hospital quality scores. Research
Methods A cross-sectional data set of all urban hospitals from eight states is used in this study.
The data were obtained from various administrative databases: Medicare Hospital Cost Report
Information System, the American Hospital Association, and the Area Health Resource File.
Descriptive statistics are used to summarize the data. An ordinary least squares regression is used
to test the relationship between ownership status and hospital quality while controlling for
hospital and market characteristics. Which component is missing from these research methods?
a. Analysis plan
b. Data collection
c. Study population
d. Research design
Research design
Q. Assoc. between pt satisfaction & hospital market share. Researcher hypothesizes that
increased pt satisfaction will lead to increase in hosp. market share. Longitudinal study of 7 years
Questions and Answers||2025||
Q. 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?
a. Time-Series
b. Cross-Sectional
c. Pretest-posttest
d. Randomized Control Trial
Time-series
Q. 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?
a. Time-Series
b. Cross-Sectional
c. Pretest-posttest
d. Randomized Control Trial
Cross-Sectional
Q. 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 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?
a. Time-Series
b. Cross-Sectional
c. Pretest-posttest
d. Randomized Control Trial
Time-Series
Q. Which type of data analysis could be used in quantitative research?
a. Reporting the gender of participants
,b. Ranking the severity order with 1 as the worst and 4 as the best
c. Reporting the distribution of results or outcomes
d. Using categorical variables with 0=no and 1=yes
Reporting the distribution of results or outcomes
Q. What is a characteristic of qualitative research methods?
a. Utilizes large sample sizes
b. Determines causal relationships
c. Generalizes results to the population
d. Introduces subjectivity to data collection
Introduces subjectivity to data collection
Q. 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?
a. Time-series
b. Clinical trial
c. Pretest-posttest
d. Cross-sectional
Cross-sectional
Q. 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?
a. Case study
b. Cohort study
c. Meta-analysis
d. Literature review
Meta-analysis
Q. 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?
a. Case study
b. Cohort study
, c. Longitudinal study
d. Pre/post-study
Pre/post-study
Q. 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?
a. t-test
b. Analysis of variance
c. Regression analysis
d. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient
Regression analysis
Q. 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
metropolitan area. The variables of interest include age, gender, race/ethnicity, and insurance
status. Which statistical technique should be used?
a. Mann-Whitney U test
b. Bayesian approach
c. Regression analysis
d. Wilcoxon signed-rank test
Regression analysis
Q. A hospital researcher is interested in investigating the association between hospital ownership
(i.e., government, investor, and not-for-profit) on overall hospital quality scores. Research
Methods A cross-sectional data set of all urban hospitals from eight states is used in this study.
The data were obtained from various administrative databases: Medicare Hospital Cost Report
Information System, the American Hospital Association, and the Area Health Resource File.
Descriptive statistics are used to summarize the data. An ordinary least squares regression is used
to test the relationship between ownership status and hospital quality while controlling for
hospital and market characteristics. Which component is missing from these research methods?
a. Analysis plan
b. Data collection
c. Study population
d. Research design
Research design
Q. Assoc. between pt satisfaction & hospital market share. Researcher hypothesizes that
increased pt satisfaction will lead to increase in hosp. market share. Longitudinal study of 7 years
