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Quiz Session - Attempts With Random Questions

ASQ CSSBB Exam Questions

Page 1 of 33

1.

What is the name of the probability distribution that is described, in part, by the mean, v?

  • Chi-square distribution

  • Normal distribution

  • Poisson distribution

  • Binomial distribution

Correct answer: Chi-square distribution

The chi-square distribution is described in part by the mean, v, where v represents the number of degrees of freedom.

Means for normal, poisson, and binomial distributions are described by other statistical parameters.

2.

Carl is investigating the measuring resolution of a pressure transducer that is nearing the end of its warranty period. Working with the manufacturer's specifications, he wants to understand if the published USL and LSL are still valid. What would be the best analysis from the choices below?

  • Control chart

  • ANOVA

  • Attribute agreement

  • Attribute gage study

Correct answer: Control chart

Control charts are used when there is a need to understand the discriminating power of a measuring instrument, and how upper and lower control limits correspond to the ability (or inability) of the instrument to tell one piece from another.

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is best used where the amount of variability induced in measurements by the measurement system itself is of interest. Analysis of variance compares this to the total variability observed to determine the viability of the measurement system. Attribute tests are for ordinal data only, such as a pass/fall test.

3.

Calculate the sample size, for a population size of 1,000 and a desired margin of error of 5%.

  • 285

  • 378

  • 250

  • 154

Correct answer: 278. The equation for calculating sample size is:

n = N/(1 + Ne2)  Where, 

n = sample size

N = population size

e = margin of error.

Solving for n yields the following calculation:

n  = 1000/(1 + 1000*(0.05)2 ) = 285

4.

What type of plan details the specifics for conducting an experiment?

  • Experimental design

  • Effect

  • Response variable

  • Design space

Correct answer: Experimental design

Experimental design details the specifics of conducting an experiment. An effect is how a factor and a response variable interact. A response variable is the observed value of an experimental treatment. Design space is the multidimensional region of possible treatment combinations.

5.

Jack has a measurement system that can provide temperature measurements to a 1/100th of a degree Celsius difference. However, he has calculated that he needs a 1/1000th of a degree Celsius measurement capability. What type of capability is Jack evaluating?

  • Discrimination

  • Accuracy

  • Repeatability

  • Reproducibility

Correct answer: Discrimination

This is a measurement's capability to detect and indicate small changes in the characteristics measured.

Accuracy is another term for simple bias, which is the delta between a measurement and the true value. Repeatability is a measurement of precision where independent results are obtained on the same measurement technique, equipment, and sampler. Reproducibility is the precision under conditions where independent measurement results are obtained with the same measurement techniques and equipment but from different samplers.  

6.

Which APQC benchmarking type evaluates a company's IT performance compared to its peer companies?

  • Functional

  • Generic

  • Internal

  • Process

Correct answer: Functional

This type of benchmarking compares the performance of a specific business function with that of its peer companies. 

Generic could be applied, but it is not the best choice. Internal does not apply in external benchmarking cases. Process would not apply, as the entire IT function is being benchmarked.

7.

What is the name of the probability distribution which has mean μ?

  • Normal distribution

  • Poisson distribution

  • Binomial distribution

  • Chi-square distribution

Correct answer: Normal distribution

The normal distribution is described in part by the mean, μ. 

Means for the poisson, binomial, and chi-square distributions are described by other statistical parameters.

8.

Josh is assembling project information for his monthly leadership communication. What information below should not be included in his meeting notes? 

  • Team meeting notes

  • Recent accomplishments

  • Financial wins

  • Problems and concerns

Correct answer:  Team meeting notes

Leadership communications should be brief and hit key points. Recent accomplishments, financial wins, and problems/concerns are all acceptable content in such communication.

9.

What is the probability of a golf ball hitting another golf ball being chipped onto a practice green if there are one hundred golf balls, each covering a surface area of 2.22 sq. inches, evenly spaced across the green, and the golf green covers a surface area of 432,000 sq. inches?

  • 0.05%

  • 0.5%

  • 5%

  • 0.0235%

Correct answer: 0.05%

The probability of the event of one golf ball colliding with another ball being chipped onto a golf green is governed by the equation P(A) = m/n, where P(A) is the probability of collision, m = the collective surface area of the 100 golf balls already on the green, and n = the surface area of the golf green. 

Plugging in these numbers yields P(A) = (100*2.22)/432000 = 0.0005 or 0.05%.

10.

What must be guarded against when devising a systematic sampling plan?

  • Data periodicity may bias the results.

  • The population will detect the sampling, thereby biasing the results.

  • The samplers must be carefully trained to take each sample the exact same way.

  • The data distribution may be non-normal.

Correct answer: Data periodicity may bias the results.

Systematic sampling is defined as a sampling pattern based on an ordered pattern. Should the process produce data that has a periodic behavior, the ordered sampling pattern may not detect this behavior and will provide a misleading result.

Populations of creatures may anticipate a sampling event over time and change their behavior, but no information is provided on this detail. Samplers always have to have careful training in sampling methods to increase sampling precision. It does not matter whether the data distribution is non-normal, only that it is representative.

11.

Which of the following does not belong in one of Porter's Five Forces?

  • The business strategy

  • Market demand

  • Commodity pricing

  • Market share of the competition

Correct answer:  The business strategy

While the business strategy determines how a company will offer its products to customers and be competitive in the marketplace, by itself, it is not one of the Five Forces, which represent external forces which must be factored into the business strategy and its deployment. Market demand, commodity pricing, and competitor's  market share are all external forces.

12.

Which choice refers to creating a subset of homogeneous data for experimentation to test for special cause variation?

  • Blocking 

  • Ordering

  • Repeating

  • Replicating

Correct answer: Blocking 

A block is a collection of experimental units that are more homogeneous than the full set of experimental designs, which can be used to test for special cause variation in addition to introduced factors. 

Ordering refers to determining how the runs in an experiment will be conducted. Repeating refers to determining the inherent variability of a measurement system. Replicating refers to multiple runs of an experiment under the same independent variable settings.

13.

Mary, a laboratory technician, has just tested a group of mice with a single dosage of a new antibiotic. Which of the following choices below best describes Mary's experiment?

  • Experimental run

  • Experimental error

  • Experimental unit

  • Treatment

Correct answer: Experimental run

An experimental run is a single performance of the experiment for a specific set of treatment combinations.

An experimental error is the variation that occurs in the response variable beyond that accounted for by the factors, blocks, or other assignable sources in the conduct of an experiment. Usually, it is truncated to just "error."

An experimental unit is the smallest entity receiving a particular treatment that yields a value of the response variable.

A treatment is the specific setting or combination of factor levels for an experimental unit.

14.

Lauren, a senior sourcing manager, learns in a monthly product review meeting with her polymers business that they are working with a specialty design house to develop a new color master batch for an existing polymer brand. Asking the business team leader whether they have considered who the ultimate supplier of the master batch will be, she learns they were not planning on looking for alternative suppliers. 

What DFX methodology should be employed in this situation?

  • Design for Cost (DFC)

  • Design for Maintainability (DFM)

  • Design for Producibility (DFP)

  • Design for Test (DFT)

Correct answer: Design for Cost (DFC)

Designing this product for cost during the development phase is the ideal time to model product cost, not after the product is introduced into the marketplace. At this phase, a common business tendency is to single or sole source commercial production to the supplier who performed the development work, potentially locking in higher costs than could have been obtained with other suppliers.

DFM, DFP, and DFT are subordinate considerations in this circumstance. 

15.

Who became a national folk hero in Japan for their contribution to its economic advancement?

  • W. Edwards Deming

  • Arman Feigenbaum

  • Kaoru Ishikawa

  • Genichi Taguchi

Correct answer: W. Edwards Deming became a national folk hero in Japan through his assistance in helping post-WWII Japanese industry capture world market leadership in less than five years from its first efforts. 

Feigenbaum, Ishikawa, and Taguichi each had notable achievements in the field of quality control. However, it was Deming who became the historically significant figure in first aiding Japan's industrial revolution.

16.

What category does the metric, 'on-time, in-full delivery' belong to in the Balanced Scorecard system?

  • Customer

  • Financial

  • Internal 

  • Living and growth

Correct answer: Customer

This metric is directly associated with increasing or decreasing customer satisfaction and is normally tracked by customers.  

Financial, Internal, and Living and Growth categories pertain to different measurements.   

17.

Joanne is developing a data collection strategy for a project in which there is an abundance of prior-collected data. What is a logical collection strategy in this circumstance?

  • Conduct an observational study

  • Look at process capability

  • Plan a design of experiment

  • Study monitoring techniques

Correct answer: Conduct an observational study

With conveniently available data, it is a logical first step to understand the data population as well as gain process insights.

After this is accomplished, it might be useful to look at process capability, but not before, as lack of insights would limit the effectiveness of data collection. Design of experiment would also be a potential subsequent step, but would need to be informed on the proper type of experimental design prior to conducting it. Studying monitoring techniques is useful when it is not clear on the type of data to collect, or how the data should be organized, which is not the circumstance in this instance.

18.

The concept of a replenishment signaling system, or 'kanban', was first developed by which Lean guru?

  • Taiichi Ohno

  • Edward Deming

  • Joseph Juran

  • Philip Crosby

Correct answer: Taiichi Ohno

His concept of kanban was inspired after visiting a supermarket in the U.S.

19.

A customer specifies that the product be loaded in super-sacks. What is this an example of?

  • Critical-to-delivery (CTD) requirement

  • Critical-to-quality (CTQ) requirement

  • Critical-to-safety (CTS) requirement

  • Critical-to-cost (CTC) requirement

Correct answer: Critical-to-delivery (CTD) requirement

These requirements deal with issues relating to the delivery of orders. In this case, the customer likely has handling equipment for super-sacks at the delivery location.

Critical-to-quality (CTQ) requirements encompass physical parameters of the product. Critical-to-cost (CTC) requirements deal exclusively with financial considerations. Critical-to-safety (CTS) requirements include safety needs and requirements. 

20.

Peter's new temperature regime for batch chemical production of the company's Poly-Tex 1900 polymer resin has been confirmed through pilot testing. To implement the new regime requires the writing of a new program for the factory's computer control system. This is an example of what type of implementation requirement?

  • Infrastructure

  • Communication

  • Organization

  • Governance

Correct answer: Infrastructure

Full implementation of any kind of improvement has to be done with consideration of ancillary requirements to enable the solution.  

Communication is an essential practice to help manage implementation rollout and any change management considerations. Organization relates to the responsibilities of individuals needed to sustain the new process. Governance applies to conformance to the new process in the interest of quality and cost effectiveness.

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