A nurse designs a project to investigate the use of smokeless tobacco among male graduates from a local high school and their incidence of oral cancer ten years later. This represents what type of study?

• A. Experimental
• B. Prospective
• C. Cross-sectional
• D. Retrospective

Answer: (B)

This item tests understanding of study design based on timing of exposure and outcome. The scenario starts with a group defined by exposure to smokeless tobacco and then follows them for ten years to see who develops oral cancer. Following people forward in time from exposure to outcome is a prospective cohort study. It’s observational, since the researcher does not assign who uses tobacco.

Why the others don’t fit: an experimental design would involve the researcher assigning the exposure (tobacco use) to participants, which isn’t happening here. a cross-sectional design collects exposure and outcome at one point in time, so temporality isn’t established. a retrospective design looks back in time from the outcome to determine exposure, whereas this scenario projects forward to observe future outcomes.