CCTST Problem Solving 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A manager notices that customer complaints have risen 30% over three months. Before proposing solutions, what should she do first?
- Hire more customer service staff immediately
- Identify the root cause of the complaints (Correct answer)
- Offer refunds to all complaining customers
- Replace the current customer service team
Correct answer: Identify the root cause of the complaints
Effective problem solving requires diagnosing the root cause before selecting solutions, otherwise interventions may address symptoms rather than underlying issues.
Question 2: Two proposed solutions to a staffing shortage are: (X) Hire part-time contractors, (Y) Redistribute existing workload. Which approach best describes evaluating these options?
- Choose X because contractors are always more flexible
- Choose Y because it costs nothing
- Weigh the cost, time, and quality trade-offs of each option (Correct answer)
- Implement both simultaneously without comparison
Correct answer: Weigh the cost, time, and quality trade-offs of each option
Sound problem solving requires comparing solutions against multiple criteria—cost, feasibility, and effectiveness—before committing.
Question 3: A student's experiment yields unexpected results. The most productive critical thinking response is to:
- Discard the data and repeat until expected results appear
- Report only the expected results
- Investigate why the anomaly occurred (Correct answer)
- Assume the hypothesis was correct and the equipment was faulty
Correct answer: Investigate why the anomaly occurred
Unexpected results are valuable data; investigating anomalies can reveal flawed assumptions or lead to new discoveries.
Question 4: A city planner must choose between building a new highway (reduces commute time but displaces residents) or expanding public transit (less displacement but slower implementation). This is best described as:
- A false dilemma requiring one clear right answer
- A problem with no viable solution
- A trade-off scenario requiring prioritization of competing values (Correct answer)
- An ethical violation regardless of choice
Correct answer: A trade-off scenario requiring prioritization of competing values
Many real-world problems involve legitimate trade-offs between competing goods, requiring explicit prioritization rather than a single 'correct' answer.
Question 5: After implementing a solution, the problem persists. The best next step is to:
- Accept that the problem is unsolvable
- Increase the intensity of the same solution
- Reassess whether the correct problem was identified (Correct answer)
- Blame external factors and move on
Correct answer: Reassess whether the correct problem was identified
If a solution fails, the problem definition itself may have been incorrect, making reassessment of the original analysis necessary.
Question 6: Which of the following is an example of working backward to solve a problem?
- Listing all possible causes from the beginning
- Starting from the desired outcome and identifying what steps would produce it (Correct answer)
- Brainstorming without any goal in mind
- Asking an expert for the answer
Correct answer: Starting from the desired outcome and identifying what steps would produce it
Working backward is a problem-solving heuristic where you start with the goal and reason in reverse to determine the necessary preconditions.
Question 7: A team generates ten possible solutions to a resource allocation problem. Which criterion should they apply FIRST to narrow the list?
- Choose the most creative solution
- Eliminate options that are infeasible given current constraints (Correct answer)
- Select the solution proposed by the most senior team member
- Implement all ten and see which works
Correct answer: Eliminate options that are infeasible given current constraints
Feasibility screening eliminates non-viable options early, making the evaluation of remaining alternatives more efficient.
CCTST Problem Solving 2
A manager notices that customer complaints have risen 30% over three months.
Before proposing solutions, what should she do first?