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WGU STATISTICS BEC1 FINAL EXAM
QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED SOLUTIONS
AND RATIONALES
1. A hospital quality team codes each patient's blood type as A=1, B=2, AB=3, and
O=4. What is the level of measurement for this variable?
A. Interval
B. Ordinal
C. Nominal
D. Ratio
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Blood type is a categorical variable whose values are labels with no
natural ranking. Numeric coding does not change the measurement level—it
remains nominal because the numbers cannot be meaningfully ordered or
compared .
2. Patient experience survey responses are recorded as Poor, Fair, Good, or
Excellent. What level of measurement does this represent?
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A. Nominal
B. Ordinal
C. Interval
D. Ratio
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: The categories have a clear ranking (Poor is worse than Fair, and so
on), but the distances between adjacent labels cannot be measured. This is the
definition of ordinal data .
3. A researcher collects the length of hospital stay in days for discharged patients.
This variable is best classified as:
A. Nominal
B. Ordinal
C. Discrete quantitative
D. Continuous quantitative
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Length of stay measured in whole days is count data. You cannot have
2.5 hospital days as a discrete count, making it a discrete quantitative variable .
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4. Which of the following represents a continuous variable?
A. Number of hospital admissions per day
B. Blood type
C. Patient temperature in degrees Fahrenheit
D. Number of nurses on duty
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Continuous variables can take any value within a range, including
decimals. Temperature can be measured to any precision and exists on a
continuum .
5. A researcher selects 200 patients from a hospital database of 5,000 patients
with chronic conditions. The 200 patients represent a:
A. Parameter
B. Statistic
C. Population
D. Sample
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: A sample is a subset of a population selected for study. The 200
patients are a subset of the 5,000 total patients (the population) .
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6. A numerical characteristic of a population is called a:
A. Statistic
B. Parameter
C. Variable
D. Sample
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: A parameter is a numerical characteristic of a population. A statistic is a
numerical characteristic of a sample .
7. A numerical characteristic of a sample is called a:
A. Parameter
B. Statistic
C. Variable
D. Population
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: A statistic is a numerical value calculated from sample data, used to
estimate population parameters .
WGU STATISTICS BEC1 FINAL EXAM
QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED SOLUTIONS
AND RATIONALES
1. A hospital quality team codes each patient's blood type as A=1, B=2, AB=3, and
O=4. What is the level of measurement for this variable?
A. Interval
B. Ordinal
C. Nominal
D. Ratio
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Blood type is a categorical variable whose values are labels with no
natural ranking. Numeric coding does not change the measurement level—it
remains nominal because the numbers cannot be meaningfully ordered or
compared .
2. Patient experience survey responses are recorded as Poor, Fair, Good, or
Excellent. What level of measurement does this represent?
,2|Page
A. Nominal
B. Ordinal
C. Interval
D. Ratio
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: The categories have a clear ranking (Poor is worse than Fair, and so
on), but the distances between adjacent labels cannot be measured. This is the
definition of ordinal data .
3. A researcher collects the length of hospital stay in days for discharged patients.
This variable is best classified as:
A. Nominal
B. Ordinal
C. Discrete quantitative
D. Continuous quantitative
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Length of stay measured in whole days is count data. You cannot have
2.5 hospital days as a discrete count, making it a discrete quantitative variable .
,3|Page
4. Which of the following represents a continuous variable?
A. Number of hospital admissions per day
B. Blood type
C. Patient temperature in degrees Fahrenheit
D. Number of nurses on duty
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Continuous variables can take any value within a range, including
decimals. Temperature can be measured to any precision and exists on a
continuum .
5. A researcher selects 200 patients from a hospital database of 5,000 patients
with chronic conditions. The 200 patients represent a:
A. Parameter
B. Statistic
C. Population
D. Sample
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: A sample is a subset of a population selected for study. The 200
patients are a subset of the 5,000 total patients (the population) .
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6. A numerical characteristic of a population is called a:
A. Statistic
B. Parameter
C. Variable
D. Sample
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: A parameter is a numerical characteristic of a population. A statistic is a
numerical characteristic of a sample .
7. A numerical characteristic of a sample is called a:
A. Parameter
B. Statistic
C. Variable
D. Population
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: A statistic is a numerical value calculated from sample data, used to
estimate population parameters .
