WGU D514 Questions And CORRECT DETAILED ANSWERS
1 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: Time-series
2. 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: Cross Sectional
3. 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: Time-Series
4 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: Reporting the distribution of results or
outcomes
5.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: Introduces subjectivity to data collection
6.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: Cross-sectional
7.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: Meta-analysis
8 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: Pre/post-study
9. 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: Regression analysis
10. 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?
Mann-Whitney U test
Bayesian approach
Regression analysis
Wilcoxon signed-rank test: Regression analysis
11. 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 MethodsA cross-sectional data set of all urban hospitals from
1 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: Time-series
2. 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: Cross Sectional
3. 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: Time-Series
4 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: Reporting the distribution of results or
outcomes
5.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: Introduces subjectivity to data collection
6.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: Cross-sectional
7.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: Meta-analysis
8 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: Pre/post-study
9. 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: Regression analysis
10. 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?
Mann-Whitney U test
Bayesian approach
Regression analysis
Wilcoxon signed-rank test: Regression analysis
11. 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 MethodsA cross-sectional data set of all urban hospitals from
