WGU D514 OA Exam Study
Guide – Practice Questions
with Verified Answers. GRADED
A+. Latest 2026/2027 Update.
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 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
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
Guide – Practice Questions
with Verified Answers. GRADED
A+. Latest 2026/2027 Update.
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 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
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
