Free Practice Quiz Question List

4 Causation and Scientific Inquiry Online Quiz Questions

Use this free practice quiz with 20 questions to review 4 Causation and Scientific Inquiry, test your knowledge, and prepare for your next test or exam.

20 questions

True or false

1 point

A strong association between tutoring and grades, by itself, establishes that tutoring caused the difference in grades.

A
True
B
False

Choose one

1 point

Which question most clearly specifies a causal comparison using potential outcomes?

A
Among all students, do those who choose tutoring have different scores from those who do not?
B
Among students eligible for a tutoring program, how would average end-of-term scores differ if they were offered the program rather than not offered it?
C
Do students who earn high scores report receiving more academic support?
D
Are tutoring programs associated with higher scores in schools that offer them?

Fill in the blank

1 point

If prior achievement influences both the likelihood of receiving academic support and the final score, the resulting problem is called .

Choose one

1 point

A researcher assigns comparable crop plots by chance to receive a fertilizer or a control treatment. What is the main causal-inference advantage of this assignment method?

A
It ensures that every participant receives the treatment.
B
It guarantees that the groups are identical in every way.
C
It tends to balance background causes between groups, supporting a more credible comparison.
D
It makes careful measurement and follow-up unnecessary.

Written response

1 point

Researchers find that illness is associated with a behavior, but illness may have led people to change that behavior. What causal-inference problem could explain the association?

Choose all

1 point

A study recruits only people who complete an app survey, and completion is more likely among exposed people and people with unusually high outcomes. Exposure is recorded with a faulty device, and the study groups many different forms of exercise under one label. Select all the problems present.

A
Selection bias
B
Randomization
C
Measurement error
D
Ambiguous treatment definition

Fill in the blank

1 point

For each relevant type of participant, there must be some chance of receiving each condition in the comparison. This requirement is called .

True or false

1 point

Describing a plausible mechanism linking a cause to an outcome is, by itself, enough to establish that the cause changed the outcome.

A
True
B
False

Choose one

1 point

A small randomized experiment finds higher crop yields in the fertilizer group. Which conclusion is best supported?

A
Random assignment guarantees identical groups and proves the treatment will work in every population.
B
Random assignment strengthens the treatment comparison, but chance imbalances can still occur and applicability beyond the studied setting is not automatic.
C
If groups differ after randomization, the assignment must not have been random.
D
Random assignment makes the result independent of measurement quality and follow-up.

Written response

1 point

Which assumption is threatened when a study compares an intervention whose different versions are not clearly defined as the same treatment?

Choose all

1 point

Which statements about combining evidence from different approaches to causal inference are supported? Select all that apply.

A
Agreement across approaches with different weaknesses can strengthen a causal conclusion.
B
Disagreement can help reveal differences in populations, treatment definitions, measurements, or assumptions.
C
A mechanistic explanation makes results from other approaches unnecessary.
D
When studies disagree, at least one must be invalid.

Open ended

1 point

A company compares employment rates for people who voluntarily enrolled in its coding program with rates for people who did not enroll. Explain how to evaluate whether participation in the program caused a difference in employment. Identify the participation comparison to define, at least one plausible alternative explanation, and what the strength of the causal conclusion depends on.

Choose one

1 point

Researchers cannot directly assign exposure to a policy. Which situation best illustrates a natural experiment that could approximate a fair comparison?

A
Researchers choose the people most likely to benefit and compare them with everyone else.
B
Participants select their preferred condition, and researchers assume the groups are comparable.
C
An external policy rule creates exposure differences that may be plausibly independent of participants' potential outcomes.
D
Researchers assign a harmful exposure to one group to make the comparison clear.

True or false

1 point

Statistical adjustment for measured factors guarantees that an observational study is free of confounding and other bias.

A
True
B
False

Choose one

1 point

Which question most clearly frames a causal comparison about a tutoring program?

A
Do students who receive tutoring have different grades from students who do not?
B
Among eligible students during the same term, how would average scores differ if tutoring were offered rather than not offered?
C
Do students who choose tutoring have more family support than those who do not?
D
Are tutoring and high grades associated in the school's records?

Choose one

1 point

Researchers find an association between an illness and a behavior. Which possibility should they consider if the illness may have caused people to change that behavior?

A
Selection bias
B
Measurement error
C
Reverse causation
D
Random assignment

Written response

1 point

What is the causal-inference term for a third factor that influences both an exposure and an outcome, thereby creating or distorting their association?

Choose one

1 point

A study compares outcomes for people described as doing “exercise,” but the label includes very different activities and amounts. What is the main problem for interpreting the causal comparison?

A
The treatment may be ambiguous because the label covers different versions of the intervention.
B
The study must use random assignment because observational studies cannot address causal questions.
C
The outcome must be measured before the treatment is offered.
D
The treatment has necessarily caused the outcome because it has multiple versions.

Choose one

1 point

Researchers statistically adjust for several measured confounders in an observational study. Which conclusion about the adjustment is best supported?

A
Adjustment guarantees that observational groups have identical potential outcomes.
B
Adjustment makes it unnecessary to define the exposure and outcome.
C
Adjustment removes bias only when the sample is large.
D
Adjustment may leave bias from unmeasured confounders or introduce distortion if an unsuitable variable is included.

Written response

1 point

What is the name of the assumption that each relevant type of unit has some chance of receiving each condition being compared?