Which of the following statements best describes a characteristic of an observational study? the researcher imposes, for example, a treatment on the sample population and then observes their response. the researcher determines relationships among variables. the individuals are observed the exact way they act in real life. it is the best method to learn about cause-effect relationships.

Choice C) The individuals are observed in the exact way they act in real life



Explanation:

An observational study is where researchers observe the people in question. It's not a trick question though it might appear that way. The answer is pretty much in the description when "observe" is part of the sentence. That's all there is to it really.

Side Notes
1) Choice A is false because this is describing an experiment. This is assuming there is a control group as well (that doesn't receive treatment and instead gets the placebo)

2) Choice B is false as this is describing a correlational study

3) Choice D is false. The best way to learn about cause-effect relationships is to do an experiment. Make sure that only one variable is changed while the others are held fixed. 

So an alternative is to rule out choices A, B, D leaving the final answer to be choice C.