Foundations: Data, Data, Everywhere
*Weekly challenge 1*
Question 1
The objective of data analysis is to draw conclusions, make predictions, and drive informed decision-making. In order to do this, a data analyst must do which of the following with data? Select all that apply.
- Sell it
- Transform it
- Collect it
- Organize it
Question 2
Fill in the blank: A collection of elements that interact with one another to produce, manage, store, organize, analyze, and share data is known as a data ______ .
- ecosystem
- cloud
- model
- environment
Question 3
Fill in the blank: The primary goal of a data _____ is to find answers to existing questions by creating insights from data sources.
- scientist
- analyst
- designer
- engineer
Question 4
Data analysts act as detectives to uncover clues within the data. Like a detective, a data analyst may use their _______ to solve business problems.
- Identification of trends
- Gather and analyze data
- Determining the stakeholders.
- Survey customers about results, conclusions, and recommendations
Question 6
What do subject-matter experts do to support data-driven decision-making? Select all that apply.
- Review the results of data analysis and identify any inconsistencies
- Collect, transform, and organize data
- Validate the choices made as a result of the data insights
- Offer insights into the business problem
Question 7
Fill in the blank: _________ is the act of consulting with subject-matter experts about the results of your data analysis.
- Data-driven decision-making
- Data science
- Data management
- Data analytics
Question 8
You have recently subscribed to an online data analytics magazine. You really enjoyed an article and want to share it in the discussion forum. Which of the following would be appropriate in a post? Select all that apply.
- Including your own thoughts about the article.
- Including an advertisement for how to subscribe to the data analytics magazine.
- Checking your post for typos or grammatical errors.
- Giving credit to the original author.
*Weekly challenge 2*
Question 1
A junior data analyst is seeking out new experiences in order to gain knowledge. They watch videos and read articles about data analytics. They ask experts questions. Which analytical skill are they using?
- Curiosity
- Understanding context
- Having a technical mindset
- Data strategy
Question 2
The analytical skill of understanding context entails which of the following?
- Balancing roles and responsibilities
- Managing people, processes, and tools
- Understanding the condition in which something exists or happens
- Breaking things down into smaller steps or pieces
Question 3
Fill in the blank: A data analyst with a technical mindset would break things down into smaller steps or pieces and work with them in an orderly and ______ way.
- logical
- curious
- creative
- clever
Question 5
The manager at a music shop notices that more trombones are repaired on the days when Alex and Jasmine work the same shift. After some investigation, the manager discovers that Alex is excellent at fixing slides, and Jasmine is great at shaping mouthpieces. Working together, Alex and Jasmine repair trombones faster. The manager is happy to have discovered this relationship and decides to always schedule Alex and Jasmine for the same shifts. In this scenario, the manager used which quality of analytical thinking?
- Big-picture thinking
- Correlation
- Visualization
- Problem-orientation
Question 6
The five whys is a technique that involves asking, “Why?” five times in order to achieve what goal?
- Put a plan into action
- Identify the root cause of a problem
- Use facts to guide business strategy
- Visualize how a process should look in the future
Question 7
An airport wants to make its luggage-handling process faster and simpler for travelers. A data analyst examines and evaluates how the process works currently in order to achieve the goal of a more efficient process. What methodology do they use?
- The five whys
- Strategy
- Data visualization
- Gap analysis
Question 8
A company is receiving negative comments on social media about their products. To solve this problem, a data analyst uses each of their five analytical skills: curiosity, understanding context, having a technical mindset, data design, and data strategy. This makes it possible for the analyst to use facts to guide business strategy and figure out how to improve customer satisfaction. What is this an example of?
- Data visualization
- Data-driven decision-making
- Gap analysis
- Data science
*Weekly challenge 3*
Question 1
Fill in the blank: A business is determining who should be responsible for the data in their current data analysis project. This means that the company is in the ______ stage of the data life cycle.
- capture
- plan
- analyze
- manage
Question 2
Fill in the blank: Shredding paper files and using data-erasure software would be actions taken by a data analyst in the _________ stage of the data lifecycle.
- Plan
- Destroy
- Manage
- Archive
Question 3
A data analyst uses spreadsheets to aggregate data during the capture phase of the data life cycle.
- True
- False
Question 4
The data life cycle deals with the stages that data goes through during its useful life; data analysis involves following a process to analyze data.
- True
- False
Question 5
What actions might a data analytics team take in the act phase of the data analysis process? Select all that apply.
- Validating insights provided by analysts
- Finalizing a strategy based on the analysis
- Sharing analysis results using data visualization
- Putting a plan into action to help solve the original business problem
Question 6
In data analysis, a function is a predefined operation whereas a formula is a set of instructions used to carry out a specific calculation.
- True
- False
Question 7
Fill in the blank: A query is used to _____ information from a database. Select all that apply.
- visualize
- request
- retrieve
- update
Question 8
A data analyst wants to retrieve information from a database. Select the correct tool from the data analyst’s toolkit.
- Spreadsheet
- Visualization
- Dashboard
- Query
*Weekly challenge 4*
Question 1
The words rank, name, population, and county in row 1 of the following spreadsheet are known as descriptors.
| – | A | B | C | E |
| 1 | Rank | Name | Population | County |
| 2 | 1 | Charlotte | 885,708 | Mecklenburg |
| 3 | 2 | Raleigh | 474,069 | Wake (seat), Durham |
| 4 | 3 | Greensboro | 296,710 | Guilford |
| 5 | 4 | Durham | 278,993 | Durham (seat), Wake, Orange |
| 6 | 5 | Winston-Salem | 247,945 | Forsyth |
| 7 | 6 | Fayetteville | 211,657 | Cumberland |
| 8 | 7 | Cary | 170,282 | Wake, Chatham |
| 9 | 8 | Wilmington | 123,784 | New Hanover |
| 10 | 9 | High Point | 112,791 | Guilford, Randolph, Davidson, Forsyth |
| 11 | 10 | Concord | 96,341 | Cabarrus |
- True
- False
Question 2
Fill in the blank: In row 8 of the following spreadsheet, you can find the _____ of Cary.
| – | A | B | C | E |
| 1 | Rank | Name | Population | County |
| 2 | 1 | Charlotte | 885,708 | Mecklenburg |
| 3 | 2 | Raleigh | 474,069 | Wake (seat), Durham |
| 4 | 3 | Greensboro | 296,710 | Guilford |
| 5 | 4 | Durham | 278,993 | Durham (seat), Wake, Orange |
| 6 | 5 | Winston-Salem | 247,945 | Forsyth |
| 7 | 6 | Fayetteville | 211,657 | Cumberland |
| 8 | 7 | Cary | 170,282 | Wake, Chatham |
| 9 | 8 | Wilmington | 123,784 | New Hanover |
| 10 | 9 | High Point | 112,791 | Guilford, Randolph, Davidson, Forsyth |
| 11 | 10 | Concord | 96,341 | Cabarrus |
- format
- dataset
- observation
- criteria
Question 3
If a data analyst wants to list the cities in this spreadsheet alphabetically, instead of numerically, what feature can they use in column B?
| – | A | B | C | D |
| 1 | Rank | Name | Population | County |
| 2 | 1 | Charlotte | 885,708 | Mecklenburg |
| 3 | 2 | Raleigh | 474,069 | Wake (seat), Durham |
| 4 | 3 | Greensboro | 296,710 | Guilford |
| 5 | 4 | Durham | 278,993 | Durham (seat), Wake, Orange |
| 6 | 5 | Winston-Salem | 247,945 | Forsyth |
| 7 | 6 | Fayetteville | 211,657 | Cumberland |
| 8 | 7 | Cary | 170,282 | Wake, Chatham |
| 9 | 8 | Wilmington | 123,784 | New Hanover |
| 10 | 9 | High Point | 112,791 | Guilford, Randolph, Davidson, Forsyth |
| 11 | 10 | Concord | 96,341 | Cabarrus |
- Sort range
- Name range
- Randomize range
- Organize range
Question 4
A data analyst types =POPULATION(C2:C11) to find the average population of the cities in this spreadsheet. However, they realize they used the wrong formula. What syntax will correct this function?
| – | A | B | C | D |
| 1 | Rank | Name | Population | County |
| 2 | 1 | Charlotte | 885,708 | Mecklenburg |
| 3 | 2 | Raleigh | 474,069 | Wake (seat), Durham |
| 4 | 3 | Greensboro | 296,710 | Guilford |
| 5 | 4 | Durham | 278,993 | Durham (seat), Wake, Orange |
| 6 | 5 | Winston-Salem | 247,945 | Forsyth |
| 7 | 6 | Fayetteville | 211,657 | Cumberland |
| 8 | 7 | Cary | 170,282 | Wake, Chatham |
| 9 | 8 | Wilmington | 123,784 | New Hanover |
| 10 | 9 | High Point | 112,791 | Guilford, Randolph, Davidson, Forsyth |
| 11 | 10 | Concord | 96,341 | Cabarrus |
- AVERAGE(C2:C11)
- AVERAGE(C2-C11)
- =AVERAGE(C2:C11)
- =AVERAGE(C2-C11)
Question 5
You are working with a database table named employee that contains data about employees. You want to review all the columns in the table.
You write the SQL query below. Add a FROM clause that will retrieve the data from the employee table.
SELECT
*
from employee
What is the job title of Andrew Adams?
- General Manager
- Sales Support Agent
- Sales Manager
- IT Manager
Question 6
You are working with a database table that contains invoice data. The customer_id column lists the ID number for each customer. You are interested in invoice data for the customer with ID number 54.
You write the SQL query below. Add a WHERE clause that will return only data about the customer with ID number 54.
SELECT
*
FROM
invoice
where customer_id = 54
After you run your query, use the slider to view all the data presented.
What is the billing address for the customer with ID number 54?
- 230 Elgin St
- 1033 N Park Ave
- 110 Raeburn Pl
- 801 W 4th St
Question 7
Which of the following best describes a bar chart?
- It is a visualization that represents data with columns, or bars, the heights of which are proportional to the values that they represent.
- It is a visualization that plots a sequence of points and connects them with them with straight lines or curves.
- It is a visualization that plots individual points in the Cartesian coordinate plane.
- It is a visualization that uses a circle which is divided into wedges sized based on numerical proportion.
Question 8
A data analyst has to create a visualization that clearly shows when and for how long the population of Charlotte has been above one million people. They choose to use a line chart. Why is this the best choice for their visualization?
- It is a visualization that plots individual points in the Cartesian coordinate plane.
- It is a visualization that plots a sequence of points and connects them with straight lines or curves.
- It is a visualization that uses a circle which is divided into wedges sized based on numerical proportion.
- It is a visualization that represents data with columns, or bars, the heights of which are proportional to the values that they represent.
*Weekly challenge 5*
Question 1
A restaurant is struggling to accurately staff for the different daily customer volumes. On some days, there are many servers and few customers. On other days, the restaurant is very busy and there are not enough servers and kitchen staff. What reports could a data analyst use to create more efficient staffing strategies? Select all that apply.
- Reports using historical sales data to predict sales for the current day/date
- Reports of past weather patterns in the area of the restaurant
- Reports of past and future reservations
- Reports of planned local events in the area of the restaurant
Question 2
A college IT department needs to reduce the number of computers on campus for student use. How could a data analyst help identify a solution to this problem?
- Analyze the number of classes schedules across all classrooms
- Analyze the utilization of the computer labs on campus
- Analyze data on the number of students enrolled
- Analyze the square footage of all computer labs on campus
Question 3
Fill in the blank: A problem is an obstacle to be solved, an issue is a topic to investigate, and a _____ is designed to discover information.
- theme
- breakthrough
- question
- business task
Question 4
Fill in the blank: A business task is described as the _____ a data analyst answers for a business.
- comment
- complaint
- question
- solution
Question 5
Data-driven decision-making is using facts to guide business strategy. The benefits include which of the following? Select all that apply.
- Using data analytics to find the best possible solution to a problem
- Combining observation with objective data
- Getting a complete picture of a problem and its causes
- Making the most of intuition and gut instinct
Question 6
Which of the following best describes what fairness in data analytics means?
- Including data from dominant groups
- Collecting data objectively
- Ensuring that analysis does not create or reinforce bias
- Including self-reported data
Question 7
Fill in the blank: As a data analyst considering problems that involve people and their behaviors and activities, it’s important to take into account the complicated _____ that could create bias in conclusions.
- company politics
- social context
- attendance habits
- performance
Question 8
A restaurant is considering changing their operating hours. They survey customers that come in between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. to get feedback on this potential change. What can the restaurant do to ensure the data analysis process is fair?
- Survey people walking by on the street
- Survey only repeat customers
- Expand the times when they survey customers
- Reward customers for participating in the survey
*Course challenge*
Question 1
Scenario 1, question 1-5
You’ve just started a new job as a data analyst. You’re working for a midsized pharmacy chain with 38 stores in the American Southwest. Your supervisor shares a new data analysis project with you.She explains that the pharmacy is considering discontinuing a bubble bath product called Splashtastic. Your supervisor wants you to analyze sales data and determine what percentage of each store’s total daily sales come from that product. Then, you’ll present your findings to leadership.You know that it’s important to follow each step of the data analysis process: ask, prepare, process, analyze, share, and act. So, you begin by defining the problem and making sure you fully understand stakeholder expectations.One of the questions you ask is where to find the dataset you’ll be working with. Your supervisor explains that the company database has all the information you need. Next, you continue to the prepare step. You access the database and write a query to retrieve data about Splashtastic. You notice that there are only 38 rows of data, representing the company’s 38 stores. In addition, your dataset contains five columns: Store Number, Average Daily Customers, Average Daily Splashtastic Sales (Units), Average Daily Splashtastic Sales (Dollars), and Average Total Daily Sales (All Products).
You know that spreadsheets work well for processing and analyzing a small dataset, like the one you’re using. To get the data from the database into a spreadsheet, what should you do?
- Copy and paste the data into a spreadsheet.
- Use Tableau to convert the data into a spreadsheet.
- Email a copy of the dataset to your company email address.
- Download the data as a .CSV file, then import it into a spreadsheet.
Question 2
Scenario 1 continued
You’ve downloaded the data from your company database and imported it into a spreadsheet. To use the dataset for this scenario, click the link below and select “Use Template.”
Link to template: Course Challenge – Scenario 1
OR
If you don’t have a Google account, you can download the template directly from the attachment below.
Course Challenge Dataset – Scenario 1 – Scenario 1_ Pharmacy Data – Part 1
Now, it’s time to process the data. As you know, this step involves finding and eliminating errors and inaccuracies that can get in the way of your results. While cleaning the data, you notice that information about Splashtastic is missing in row 16. Which of the following would be an appropriate course of action?
- Replace the row with the average values of the other data points.
- Delete the row with the missing data point.
- Sort the spreadsheet so the row with missing data is at the bottom.
- Investigate previous projects and see how this was dealt with there.
Question 3
Scenario 1 continued
Once you’ve found the missing information, you analyze your dataset. During analysis, you create a new column F. At the top of the column, you add the attribute Average Percentage of Total Sales – Splashtastic.
Fill in the blank: An attribute is a _______ or quality of data used to label a column.
- characteristic
- number
- headline
- response
Question 4
Scenario 1 continued
Next, you determine the average total daily sales over the past 12 months at all stores. The range that contains these sales is E2:E39. To do this, you use a function. You input =AVE(E2:E39), but this returns an error. What is the correct command?
- =AVERAGE(E2+E39)
- =AVERAGE(E2-E39)
- =AVERAGE(E2,E29)
- =AVERAGE(E2:E39)
Question 5
Scenario 1 continued
You’ve reached the share phase of the data analysis process. What can you do in this phase to highlight the Splashtastic sales insights you’ve discovered?
- Create a data visualization.
- Revisit the analyze phase.
- Establish a repository for the data.
- Compile a record of the data.
6.
Question 6
Scenario 2, questions 6-10
You’ve been working for the nonprofit National Dental Society (NDS) as a junior data analyst for about two months. The mission of the NDS is to help its members advance the oral health of their patients. NDS members include dentists, hygienists, and dental office support staff.
The NDS is passionate about patient health. Part of this involves automatically scheduling follow-up appointments after crown replacement, emergency dental surgery, and extraction procedures. NDS believes the follow-up is an important step to ensure patient recovery and minimize infection.
Unfortunately, many patients don’t show up for these appointments, so the NDS wants to create a campaign to help its members learn how to encourage their patients to take follow-up appointments seriously. If successful, this will help the NDS achieve its mission of advancing the oral health of all patients.
Your supervisor has just sent you an email saying that you’re doing very well on the team, and he wants to give you some additional responsibility. He describes the issue of many missed follow-up appointments. You are tasked with analyzing data about this problem and presenting your findings using data visualizations.
An NDS member with three dental offices in Colorado offers to share its data on missed appointments. So, your supervisor uses a database query to access the dataset from the dental group. The query instructs the database to retrieve all patient information from the member’s three dental offices, located in zip code 81137.
The table is dental_data_table, and the column name is zip_code. You write the following query, but get an error. What statement will correct the problem?
SELECT * FROM dental_data_table WHERE zip code = 81137
- WHERE_zip code = 81137
- zip_code = 81137
- WHERE zip_code = 81137
- WHERE 81137
7.
Question 7
Scenario 2 continued
The dataset your supervisor retrieved and imported into a spreadsheet includes a list of patients, their demographic information, dental procedure types, and whether they attended their follow-up appointment. To use the dataset for this scenario, click the link below and select “Use Template.”
Link to template: Course Challenge – Scenario 2
OR
If you don’t have a Google account, you can download the template directly from the attachment below.
Course Challenge Dataset – Scenario 2
The patient demographic information includes data such as age and gender. As you’re learning, it’s your responsibility as a data analyst to make sure your analysis is fair. Which aspect of patient demographics might get in the way of fairness?
- The dataset indicates which dental procedure the patients had performed.
- The dataset represents people who are single.
- The dataset includes people who all live in the same zip code.
- The dataset contains patient identification numbers.
8.
Question 8
Scenario 2 continued
As you’re reviewing the dataset, you notice that there are a disproportionate number of senior citizens. So, you investigate further and find out that this zip code represents a rural community in Colorado with about 800 residents. In addition, there’s a large assisted-living facility in the area. Nearly 300 of the residents in the 81137 zip code live in the facility.
You recognize that’s a sizable number, so you want to find out if age has an effect on a patient’s likelihood to attend a follow-up dental appointment. You analyze the data, and your analysis reveals that older people tend to miss follow-ups more than younger people.
So, you do some research online and discover that people over the age 60 are 50% more likely to miss dentist appointments. Sometimes this is because they’re on a fixed income. Also, many senior citizens lack transportation to get to and from appointments.
With this new knowledge, you write an email to your supervisor expressing your concerns about the dataset. He agrees with your concerns, but he’s also impressed with what you’ve learned and thinks your findings could be very important to the project. He asks you to change the business task. Now, the NDS campaign will be about educating dental offices on the challenges faced by senior citizens and finding ways to help them access quality dental care.
Changing the business task involves which of the following?
- Using a database instead of a spreadsheet
- Defining the new question or problem to be solved
- Conducting a gap analysis
- Creating a graphical representation of the data
9.
Question 9
Scenario 2 continued
You continue with your analysis. In the end, your findings support what you discovered during your online research: As people get older, they’re less likely to attend follow-up dental visits.
But you’re not done yet. You know that data should be combined with human insights in order to lead to true data-driven decision-making. So, your next step is to share this information with people who are familiar with the problem professionally. They’ll help verify the results of your data analysis.
Fill in the blank: Subject matter experts are people who are familiar with a problem. They can help by identifying inconsistencies in the analysis, _____, and validating the choices being made.
- creating a presentation with the data
- redefining the business problem
- collecting data relevant to the business problem
- offering insights into the business problem
10.
Question 10
Scenario 2 continued
The subject-matter experts are impressed by your analysis. The team agrees to move to the next step: data visualization. You know it’s important that stakeholders at NDS can quickly and easily understand that older people are less likely to attend important follow-up dental appointments than younger people. This will help them create an effective campaign for members.
It’s time to create your presentation to stakeholders. It will include a data visualization that demonstrates the lifetime trend of people being less likely to attend follow-up appointments as they get older.
You recognize that this data is given in series. What type of data visualization is most effective to visualize this data?
- A box plot
- A doughnut chart
- A table
- A line chart
