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TOP 50 DATA ANALYST INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

(2023)
Deepanshu Bhalla 8 Comments Excel, SQL, Statistics

This tutorial explains common and tricky data analyst

interview questions, along with answers.

The main responsibility of data analyst is to generate insights

from data and present it to stakeholders such as external or
internal clients. During this process, he/she extracts data from

database and then clean it up to prepare it for analysis. Later

data analysis step involves exploration of data with descriptive

statistics and then building predictive model for prediction.

Data analyst must know basics and intermediary statistics and

know how to apply it with Python or SAS. Excel and SQL are

the two most popular tools used in data analytics so

candidate must possess a good knowledge of these tools.

Excel is used for a variety of purposes such as generating

quick summaries and presenting it in an interactive excel

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dashboard. Mostly offline reporting deliverables are in either

excel or powerpoint report formats.

This tutorial covers interview questions on the following

topics:

1. MS Excel

2. Statistics

3. SQL

4. Python

5. SAS

6. HR / Project Related Questions

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Excel Interview Questions

The following is a list of some tricky or advanced excel

interview questions.

1. What is the default value of last parameter of VLOOKUP?

Solution : TRUE/1 . It refers to finding the closest

(approximate) match and assuming the table is sorted in

ascending order. Whereas, FALSE/0 refers to exact match.

2. What is the main limitation of VLOOKUP function?

The lookup value should be at the most left side column in

the table array. VLOOKUP only looks right. It cannot look right

to left.

3. Does VLOOKUP look up case-sensitive values?

No, it is not case-sensitive. The text 'ram' and 'RAM' is

× identical for VLOOKUP.

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4. 2 ways to extract unique values in excel

Use Advanced Filter option (shortcut key : ALT D F A) and

'Remove Duplicates' option under Data tab.

5. How to find duplicates in a column?

Use CONDITIONAL FORMATING to highlight duplicate values.

OR use COUNTIF function as shown below. For example,

values are stored in cells D4:D7.

=COUNTIF(D4:D7,D4)

Apply filter on the column wherein you applied COUNTIF

function and select values greater than 1.

6. How to insert a drop down?

Go to Data tab >> Select Data Validation. Another way to

insert a drop down is to enable Developer tab and Insert

Combo box.

7. How to sum values based on some conditions?

Use SUMIF or SUMPRODUCT functions. The SUMIF function is

explained below -

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=SUMIF(range, criteria, sum_range)

=SUMIF(A2:A5,"A",B2:B5)

Excel : SUMIF Function

8. How to create cross tabulation in Excel?

Use Pivot Table and select one variable in Row

label and the other variable in Column label.

9. What is Excel Array Formula?

Excel Array Formula Explained

10. How to extract First Name from a full name?

Suppose you need to pull 'Neha' from 'Neha Sharma'. Use

MID and FIND functions.

=MID (A2,1,FIND(" ",A2)-1)

Tutorial : Practical Uses of MID Function

11. How Index and Match Function works?

Index function returns a value from a range based on row

×
number.

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= INDEX(range, row_number)

See the image below -

Excel : Index Function

In this case, we are telling EXCEL to return second value of the

range A2:A4. It returns 30.

Match function returns the relative position of a value in

range.

= MATCH(lookup_value, range, match_type)

match_type can be exact match, largest/smallest value that is

less than or greater than equal to lookup_value.

Excel : Match Function

In this case, we are asking EXCEL to find the relative position

of 30 in the range A2:A4. It returns 2.

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12. How Index and Match Function works together?

=INDEX(range, MATCH(lookup_value,

lookup_range, match_type))

Suppose information of Product and Sales are stored in

columns A and B. You need to look for product against sales

value so you need to tell EXCEL to look from right to left as

sales value is placed in the right hand side of the range/table.

=INDEX(A2:A5,MATCH(45,B2:B5,0))

Nested INDEX MATCH Excel Functions

Statistics Interview Questions

The following questions touch upon some basics and

intermediate statistics topics. These topics are generally

taught in undergraduate / graduate courses.

1. What is p-value?
It is the lowest level of significance at which you can reject the
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null hypothesis. If p-value < 0.05, you reject the null

hypothesis at 5% level of significance.

2. Difference between MEAN. MEDIAN, MODE

Mean is calculated by summing all the values divided by

number of observations. Median is the middle value. And

Mode is the most occurring value.

3. In which data types MEAN, MEDIAN and MODE are more

suitable?

MEAN is suitable for continuous data with no outliers. It is

affected by extreme values (Outliers). MEDIAN is suitable for

continuous data with outliers or ordinal data. Mode is suitable

for categorical data (including both nominal and ordinal data).

4. Different Types of Sampling Techniques?

There are following four main types of sampling techniques.

1. Simple random sampling

2. Stratified sampling

3. Cluster sampling

4. Systematic sampling

5. Difference between Cluster and Stratified Sampling?

The main difference between cluster and stratified sampling is

that in stratified sampling all the strata need to be sampled. In

cluster sampling one proceeds by first selecting a number of

clusters at random and then sampling each cluster or conduct

a census of each cluster. But usually not all clusters would be

included.
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6. When should we use T-test than Z-test?

Theoretically, we should use T-test when sample size (N) is

less than 30. Practically, we always use t-test. It is because t-

test and z test are equivalent as N tends to infinity.

7. What is the difference between R-square and Adjusted R-

square?

Check out this link - R-square vs. Adjusted R-square

8. How to detect outliers?

Box Plot Method - If a value is higher than the 1.5*IQR above

the upper quartile (Q3), the value will be considered as

outlier. Similarly, if a value is lower than the 1.5*IQR below the

lower quartile (Q1), the value will be considered as outlier.

Standard Deviation Method - If a value is higher than the

mean plus or minus three Standard Deviation is considered as

outlier.

Ways to detect Outliers with SAS

9. Define Homoscedasticity?

In a linear regression model, there should be homogeneity of

variance of the residuals. In other words, the variance of

residuals are approximately equal for all predicted dependent

variable values.

Check Homoscedasticity with SAS

10. Difference between Standardized and Unstandardized

Coefficients?

×
To calculate Standardized Coefficients, first we need to

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standardize both dependent and independent variables and

use the standardized variables in the regression model to get

standardized estimates. By 'standardize', it implies subtracting

mean from each observation and divide that by the standard

deviation. The standardized coefficient is interpreted in terms

of standard deviation. Whereas, unstandardized coefficient is

measured in actual units.

11. Difference between Factor Analysis and Principal

Component Analysis?

Both the analysis are very much similar but they are different

in terms of calculation and their practical usage :

1. In Principal Components Analysis, the components are

calculated as linear combinations of the raw input

variables. In Factor Analysis, the raw input variables are

defined as linear combinations of the factors.

2. The main idea of using PCA is to explain as much of the

total variance in the variables as possible. Whereas, the

factor analysis explains the covariances or correlations

between the variables.

3. PCA is used when we need to reduce the number of

variables (dimensionality reduction) whereas FA is used

when we need to group variables into some factors.

12. Difference between Linear and Logistic Regression?

There are more than 10 differences between these two

algorithms. Check out the link below - Linear vs. Logistic

Regression
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13. How to statistically compare means between groups?

Use Independent T-test when a continuous variable and a

categorical variable having two independent categories.

Use Paired T-test when a continuous variable and a

categorical variable having two dependent or paired

categories.

Use one way ANOVA when a continuous variable and a

categorical variable having more than two independent

categories.

Use GLM Repeated Measures when a continuous variable

and a categorical variable more than two dependent

categories.

14. Explain eigenvalues and eigenvectors intuitively

Eigenvalues are variances explained by principal components.

By 'variances', i mean the diagonal values of the covariance

matrix below -

x y z

1.34 -0.16 0.19

-0.16 0.62 -0.13

0.19 -0.13 1.49

The sum of the diagonal values is 3.45.

×
Why eigenvalue greater than 1 is considered to retain

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components? It is because the average eigenvalue will be 1,

so > 1 implies higher than average.

Eigenvectors are the coefficients of orthogonal (uncorrelated)

transformation of variables into principal components.

Python Interview Questions

Here are the questions that would help you to prepare for

Python interview round.

Q. What are the main data structures in pandas, and how are

they different from each other?

Answer: In pandas, there are two primary data structures:

Series and DataFrame. A Series is like a one-dimensional list,

while a DataFrame is like a two-dimensional table. The big

difference is that a DataFrame can store multiple Series, which

makes it great for tables.

Q. How can you pick specific rows and columns from a

DataFrame in pandas?

Answer: You can use .loc[] or .iloc[] to choose particular

rows and columns from a DataFrame. .loc[] works with

labels (like names), and .iloc[] works with numbers (like

positions).

Q. Explain what the groupby() function in pandas does and

when you might use it.

Answer: The groupby() function in pandas is used to group

×
rows in a DataFrame based on one or more columns. It's often

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used to summarize data. For instance, you can use

groupby() to group sales data by product category and

calculate the total sales for each category.

Q. How do you deal with duplicates and missing values in a

pandas DataFrame?

Answer: To handle duplicates, you can use .drop_duplicates()

to remove repeated rows. For missing values, you can use

methods like .dropna() to get rid of rows or columns with

missing data and .fillna() to fill in missing values with

specific ones.

Q. Explain the key features of NumPy arrays and how they are

different from Python lists.

Answer: NumPy arrays are like lists, but they are tidier and can

have many dimensions. Python lists can hold different types

of things and are only one-dimensional. NumPy arrays also

make math stuff faster and easier.

Q. How do you do element-wise and math operations on

NumPy arrays?

Answer: To do element-wise operations, just use +, -, *, and /

with NumPy arrays. NumPy also has lots of math functions like

np.mean() and np.sum() for doing math on arrays.

Q. What's the point of the np.random module in NumPy,

and how do you make random numbers with it?

Answer: np.random in NumPy helps you make random

×
numbers and data. You can use np.random.rand() to get

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random values from a uniform range or np.random.randn()

for random values from a normal range.

Q. How do you manage missing data in a pandas DataFrame?

Answer: You can handle missing data in pandas using

methods like isna() , fillna() , or dropna() . If you want to

replace missing values, use fillna() , and if you want to

remove rows or columns with missing data, use dropna() .

Q. What are the different data structures in Python?

Answer: The main data structures in Python are lists, tuples,

dictionaries, and sets. Lists are ordered collections of stuff,

tuples are unchangeable lists, dictionaries are like maps from

keys to values, and sets are groups of unique stuff without

order.

Q. What is a lambda function in Python?

Answer: A lambda function is a tiny, unnamed function in

Python. It's used for simple tasks and is often written directly

where it's needed. See the example below :

add = lambda x, y: x + y

result = add(5, 3) # Result : 8

SAS Interview Questions

The following questions would help you to prepare for SAS

interview round.

× 1. Difference between WHERE and IF statement?

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WHERE statement can be used in procedures to subset

data while IF statement cannot be used in procedures.

WHERE can be used as a data set option while IF cannot

be used as a data set option.

WHERE statement is more efficient than IF statement. It

tells SAS not to read all observations from the data set

WHERE statement can not be used when reading data

using INPUT statement whereas IF statement can be

used.

When it is required to use newly created variables, use

IF statement as it doesn't require variables to exist in

the READIN data set.

2. How PROC MEANS works?

PROC MEANS DATA = dataset_name;

VAR analysis_variable;

CLASS grouping_variable;

RUN;

Take the Three 90 Challenge

forGeeks Apply Now

×

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Detailed Explanation : PROC MEANS

3. Difference between INFORMAT and FORMAT?

Informat is used to read data whereas Format is used to write

or display data.

4. Difference between NODUPKEY and NODUP in PROC SORT?

The NODUPKEY option removes duplicate observations

where value of a variable listed in BY statement is repeated

while NODUP option removes duplicate observations where

values in all the variables are repeated.

5. How many maximum characters SAS library name can take?

A valid library name must start with an alphabet and cannot

have more than 8 characters.

6. Which is more faster - Proc SQL or SAS data step?

The SQL procedure performed better with the smaller

datasets whereas the data step performed better with the

larger datasets (more than approx. 100 MB).

7. Two main advantages of Proc SQL Joins over Data Step

Merging?

1. Proc SQL JOINS do not require variables to be sorted

prior to joining them whereas Data Step Merging

requires.

2. Proc SQL works perfectly when key variables have

different names

8. What would happen if i don't use 'BY statement in MERGE?

×
Without 'BY' statement, SAS will merge the 1st observation

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from dataset A and 1st observation from dataset B to form

the 1st observation of the final dataset. It might lead to

meaningless results.

9. What are the ways to create a macro variable?

There are 5 ways to create macro variables:

%Let

Iterative %DO statement

Call Symput

Proc SQl into clause

Macro Parameters

10. How to rename columns with PROC SQL?

Use AS alias.

Proc SQL;

select name as fullname from table1;

quit;

11. How to calculate percentile values with SAS?

We can use PROC MEANS or PROC UNIVARIATE to calculate

percentile values. For example, specify options P10, P90 to

calculate 10th and 90th percentile score. PROC MEANS cannot

calculate custom percentile values such as 97.5th or 99.5th

percentile. To calculate these custom percentile values, you

can use PCTLPTS= option in PROC UNIVARIATE.

×

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Tutorial : PROC UNIVARIATE

12. How to replace missing values of all the numeric variables

to 0 in a single run?

We can use _numeric_ to specify all the numeric variables and

dim functions in array to count the number of numeric

variables.

data temp;

set sampledata;

array Q(*) _numeric_;

do i= 1 to dim(Q);

if Q(i) = . then Q(i)= 0;

end;

run;

SQL Interview Questions

1. How to write conditional statements (IF ELSE) in SQL?

In SQL, it is possible with CASE WHEN statements.

select

case when sex='M' then 1 else 0 end as

males

, case when sex='F' then 1 else 0 end as

females

from sashelp.class;

quit;

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2. What are the common SQL data types ?

Data Type Format

Numeric NUMBER(L,D), INTEGER,SMALLINT,DECIMAL(L,D)

Character CHAR(L),VARCHAR(L)

Date DATE

3. How to subset or filter data in SQL?

We can use WHERE clause to subset or filter data.

SELECT *

FROM PRODUCT

WHERE SALES > 200

4. Difference between WHERE and HAVING clauses

The HAVING clause comes into effect when GROUP BY is used.

It runs after GROUP BY so it filters grouping variable. Whereas

WHERE clause runs prior to GROUP BY clause so it does not

filter a grouping variable.

5. Difference between Full Join and Cross Join?

A full join keeps all rows from both of the input tables even if

we cannot find a matching row.

×
Cross Join returns cartesian product of tables. It matches

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every row of one table with every row of another table.

6. Difference between UNION and UNION ALL

The main use of UNION and UNION ALL is to join two tables.

The main difference between them is that UNION removes

duplicate records and UNION ALL keeps the duplicate records.

By 'duplicate records', all the values of two or more rows are

same.

7. How to create a blank table

Method I :

The following method creates a new table called temp2 with

the same column names and attributes of table temp.

CREATE TABLE TEMP2 LIKE TEMP;

Method II :

In this case, we are creating a blank table by subsetting data

method. As 1 is not equal to 2, it returns zero row.

create table temp3 as

select * from temp

where 1=2;

×
8. What will be the result of the query below?

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select case when null = null then 'Yes' else 'No'

end as Result;

It will return NO as the above code is not right way to

compare null values. The correct way would be to use 'is'

keyword to compare -

select case when null is null then 'Yes' else 'No'

end as Result;

9. Suppose you have a table named TEMP. You need to recode

values of column Y, Swap values 2 and 3 in column Y

Table

UPDATE TEMP

SET Y= CASE WHEN Y = 2 THEN 3

WHEN Y = 3 THEN 2

ELSE Y END;

10. Identify second maximum value

×

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select max(y) from temp

where y not in (select max(y) from temp);

In this code, the logic is to remove the maximum value from

the main table and then calculate the max value to figure out

the second max value of the main table.

11. Identify second maximum value by a group

The code below first removes all the max values by a group

from the main table. Later we calculated the second max value

by a group.

select a.x, max(a.y) as maxy from temp a left join

(select x, max(y) as maxy from temp group by 1)

on a.x = b. x and a.y = b.maxy

where b.x is null and b.maxy is null

group by 1;

12. Is the query below correct? If not, what's the issue?

SELECT custid, YEAR(ref_date) AS ref_year

FROM custmart

WHERE ref_year >= 2015;

The calculated column cannot be used in WHERE condition

×
so we need to modify the above code like this -

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SELECT custid, YEAR(ref_date) AS ref_year

FROM custmart

WHERE YEAR(ref_date) >= 2015;

HR / Project Related Questions

The following is a list of common questions asked by

recruiters.

1. Explain one of your project

Start from problem definition

Explain Data Cleaning, Exploration and Data

Preparation Steps

What technique / algorithm is used in the project?

Financial (Dollar) value impact of the project

2. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

3. Why are you leaving the current organization?

4. Why should we hire you?

5. Where do you see yourself five years from now?

6. What was the toughest decision you ever had to make?

End Notes
×

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The above list of questions would assist you in preparing for

interviews for roles of senior / lead data analyst. Don't just

mug up answers, understand the concepts of the topics

covered in these questions.

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Deepanshu founded ListenData with a simple objective -

Make analytics easy to understand and follow. He has over
10 years of experience in data science. During his tenure, he
worked with global clients in various domains like Banking,
× Insurance, Private Equity, Telecom and HR.

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8 Responses to "Top 50 Data Analyst Interview Questions (2023)"

Anonymous February 9, 2017 at 11:36 AM

Excellent blog
Reply Delete

Anonymous February 9, 2017 at 11:37 AM

Please add some more question related to excel and sas

base
Reply Delete

anonymous November 15, 2017 at 11:46 PM

extremely helpful and up to the mark blog. great job

Reply Delete

Laxmiprasad November 21, 2017 at 9:00 PM

3rd Answer is wrong. It should be 'Yes' cos its case sensitive.

Reply Delete

Replies

Deepanshu Bhalla November 22, 2017 at 12:30 PM

It is not case-sensitive. can you try it once using

excel?
Delete

Reply

SUFI December 15, 2018 at 1:41 PM

Fan Ho gaya sir me ap ka!!

Reply Delete

Anonymous August 17, 2020 at 11:08 AM

× Thanks alot, its helpful in like preparing on exam night.

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Reply Delete

teja February 4, 2022 at 10:04 AM

Question 1:
Use shoes dataset and Create sortedshoes in work from
sashelp library

Sort the data with “product” variable in descending and then

with “sales” variable in Ascending order

Now answer the following questions :

What is the value under product variable at 148th
observation
What is the value under Region variable at 130th
observation
Reply Delete

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