WGU C207 Data-Driven Decision Making – OA
Practice Questions 150 Questions with Verified
Answers & Explanations | PDF
This comprehensive practice exam covers the key competencies tested on the WGU C207
Objective Assessment: The Case for Quantitative Analysis, Statistics as a Managerial Tool,
Quantitative Statistical Tools, Quality Metrics and Tools, Real-World Data-Driven Decisions,
and Improving Organizational Performance . Based on student feedback, this course is one
of the more manageable OAs when approached strategically .
SECTION A: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS & DATA TYPES (Questions 1-25)
Question 1
Amanda is measuring temperature. She looks at the thermometer and sees it is between 65
and 66 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperature is what type of data?
A) Nominal, Discrete
B) Nominal, Continuous
C) Ordinal, Discrete
D) Discrete, Continuous
Answer: D. Temperature is continuous data because it can take any value within a range. It
is also discrete in the sense of measurement increments, but the correct classification is
continuous data as it can be any number within a range .
Question 2
What is the first stage of Davenport and Kim's Three-Stage Model of quantitative decision
making?
A) Communicate the results
B) Frame the problem
C) Solve the problem
D) Analyze the data
,Answer: B. The first stage is to frame the problem by understanding the environment of a
problem. After that, one can solve the problem and communicate the results to others .
Question 3
A manager is looking at the previous quarter and determining the causes for a sudden sales
spike to gain a better understanding of the actions and outcomes. Which type of analytics
would the manager use?
A) Predictive Analytics
B) Prescriptive Analytics
C) Descriptive Analytics
D) Proactive Analytics
Answer: C. Descriptive analytics is used to describe the characteristics of what is being
studied by summarizing historical data to identify patterns and trends .
Question 4
Which statistic best summarizes the center of a skewed income distribution?
A) Mean
B) Median
C) Standard deviation
D) Variance
Answer: B. Income data are typically right-skewed due to extreme high values. The median
is resistant to outliers, while the mean is pulled toward extreme values .
Question 5
Adam measures the temperature of a freezing lake ten times with the same thermometer
and gets: 20, 21, 21, 20, 20, 19, 19, 21, 20, 19°F. Is his thermometer reliable? Is it valid?
(Freezing point is 32°F)
A) Reliable and Valid
B) Reliable but not Valid
,C) Not Reliable but Valid
D) Not Reliable or Valid
Answer: B. The thermometer gives consistent results (reliable) but consistently reads about
12 degrees below the true freezing point (not valid). Reliability = consistency; validity =
accuracy .
Question 6
What is the key difference between a parameter and a statistic?
A) Parameter describes a sample; statistic describes a population
B) Parameter describes a population; statistic describes a sample
C) Both describe populations
D) Both describe samples
Answer: B. A parameter is a numerical measure that describes a characteristic of a
population. A statistic is a numerical measure that describes a characteristic of a sample .
Question 7
Which measure of dispersion is most affected by outliers?
A) Range
B) Interquartile Range (IQR)
C) Variance
D) Median Absolute Deviation
Answer: A. The range (maximum - minimum) is highly sensitive to outliers because a single
extreme value can drastically change either the maximum or minimum. IQR is more robust .
Question 8
What does a coefficient of variation (CV) measure?
A) Absolute dispersion in original units
B) Relative dispersion as a percentage of the mean
C) The spread of the middle 50% of data
D) The average distance from the median
, Answer: B. CV = (standard deviation / mean) × 100%. It measures relative dispersion,
allowing comparison of variability across datasets with different means .
Question 9
The standard deviation of a dataset is zero. What does this indicate?
A) All values are negative
B) All values are positive
C) All values are identical
D) The mean is zero
Answer: C. A standard deviation of zero indicates no variability in the dataset. All values
must be exactly equal to the mean .
Question 10
Which measure of central tendency is appropriate for nominal data?
A) Mean
B) Median
C) Mode
D) All of the above
Answer: C. Nominal data are categories with no order. The only measure of central
tendency that applies is the mode (the most frequent category) .
Question 11
For a perfectly symmetrical distribution, the relationship between mean, median, and mode
is:
A) Mean < Median < Mode
B) Mean > Median > Mode
C) Mean = Median = Mode
D) The relationship cannot be determined
Answer: C. In a perfectly symmetrical, unimodal distribution (such as a normal distribution),
the mean, median, and mode are all equal and located at the center of the distribution .
Practice Questions 150 Questions with Verified
Answers & Explanations | PDF
This comprehensive practice exam covers the key competencies tested on the WGU C207
Objective Assessment: The Case for Quantitative Analysis, Statistics as a Managerial Tool,
Quantitative Statistical Tools, Quality Metrics and Tools, Real-World Data-Driven Decisions,
and Improving Organizational Performance . Based on student feedback, this course is one
of the more manageable OAs when approached strategically .
SECTION A: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS & DATA TYPES (Questions 1-25)
Question 1
Amanda is measuring temperature. She looks at the thermometer and sees it is between 65
and 66 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperature is what type of data?
A) Nominal, Discrete
B) Nominal, Continuous
C) Ordinal, Discrete
D) Discrete, Continuous
Answer: D. Temperature is continuous data because it can take any value within a range. It
is also discrete in the sense of measurement increments, but the correct classification is
continuous data as it can be any number within a range .
Question 2
What is the first stage of Davenport and Kim's Three-Stage Model of quantitative decision
making?
A) Communicate the results
B) Frame the problem
C) Solve the problem
D) Analyze the data
,Answer: B. The first stage is to frame the problem by understanding the environment of a
problem. After that, one can solve the problem and communicate the results to others .
Question 3
A manager is looking at the previous quarter and determining the causes for a sudden sales
spike to gain a better understanding of the actions and outcomes. Which type of analytics
would the manager use?
A) Predictive Analytics
B) Prescriptive Analytics
C) Descriptive Analytics
D) Proactive Analytics
Answer: C. Descriptive analytics is used to describe the characteristics of what is being
studied by summarizing historical data to identify patterns and trends .
Question 4
Which statistic best summarizes the center of a skewed income distribution?
A) Mean
B) Median
C) Standard deviation
D) Variance
Answer: B. Income data are typically right-skewed due to extreme high values. The median
is resistant to outliers, while the mean is pulled toward extreme values .
Question 5
Adam measures the temperature of a freezing lake ten times with the same thermometer
and gets: 20, 21, 21, 20, 20, 19, 19, 21, 20, 19°F. Is his thermometer reliable? Is it valid?
(Freezing point is 32°F)
A) Reliable and Valid
B) Reliable but not Valid
,C) Not Reliable but Valid
D) Not Reliable or Valid
Answer: B. The thermometer gives consistent results (reliable) but consistently reads about
12 degrees below the true freezing point (not valid). Reliability = consistency; validity =
accuracy .
Question 6
What is the key difference between a parameter and a statistic?
A) Parameter describes a sample; statistic describes a population
B) Parameter describes a population; statistic describes a sample
C) Both describe populations
D) Both describe samples
Answer: B. A parameter is a numerical measure that describes a characteristic of a
population. A statistic is a numerical measure that describes a characteristic of a sample .
Question 7
Which measure of dispersion is most affected by outliers?
A) Range
B) Interquartile Range (IQR)
C) Variance
D) Median Absolute Deviation
Answer: A. The range (maximum - minimum) is highly sensitive to outliers because a single
extreme value can drastically change either the maximum or minimum. IQR is more robust .
Question 8
What does a coefficient of variation (CV) measure?
A) Absolute dispersion in original units
B) Relative dispersion as a percentage of the mean
C) The spread of the middle 50% of data
D) The average distance from the median
, Answer: B. CV = (standard deviation / mean) × 100%. It measures relative dispersion,
allowing comparison of variability across datasets with different means .
Question 9
The standard deviation of a dataset is zero. What does this indicate?
A) All values are negative
B) All values are positive
C) All values are identical
D) The mean is zero
Answer: C. A standard deviation of zero indicates no variability in the dataset. All values
must be exactly equal to the mean .
Question 10
Which measure of central tendency is appropriate for nominal data?
A) Mean
B) Median
C) Mode
D) All of the above
Answer: C. Nominal data are categories with no order. The only measure of central
tendency that applies is the mode (the most frequent category) .
Question 11
For a perfectly symmetrical distribution, the relationship between mean, median, and mode
is:
A) Mean < Median < Mode
B) Mean > Median > Mode
C) Mean = Median = Mode
D) The relationship cannot be determined
Answer: C. In a perfectly symmetrical, unimodal distribution (such as a normal distribution),
the mean, median, and mode are all equal and located at the center of the distribution .
