Question

An insurance company wants to monitor the quality of its procedures for handling loss claims from its auto insurance policyholders. Each month the company selects an SRS from all auto insurance claims filed that month to examine them for accuracy and promptness.

What kind of study was this?

A) Matched pairs experiment.   

B)Double blind experiment.

C) Observational Study.

D) Randomized comparative experiment.

*Please Explain*

Answer 1

C) Observational Study is correct.

Not A):

It's not matched pairs experiment because in matched pairs experiment, the same treatment group receives different treatments and such a thing is not mentioned in the question.

No B):

It's not double blind experiment because in double blind experiment, both participants and researchers do not know which participants are receiving which treatment or if they are receiving or not and this is not the case in this question as the researchers clearly know whose claims are being studied/checked.

Not D):

It's not a randomized comparative experiment because there is no comparison of treatment and control groups nor there is any intervention by the researchers, i.e.,no control group is given.

All the above three involve intervention by the researchers whereas the observational study does not involve any intervention by the researchers and is purely based on the data collected for which inference is drawn. Thus, the examination of accuracy and promptness of SRS of auto insurance claims filed each month was an "Observational Study".

Thus, 'C) Observational study' is correct option.

Other three are experimental studies that involve interventions where as the observational study is only to observe what is there and what is not without any interventions.