Data Analysis Test

The data analysis test is one of more than 8 different test types on Alooba, including the Python test, R test, SQL test and many others. Data analysis is one of more than 50+ skills that can be evaluated on Alooba.

The data analysis test requires candidates to perform practical data analysis using real world datasets from real companies.

What is data analysis?

Data analysis is an increasingly important skill set, and involves the ability to extract meaningfulness insights out of data. Practically this involves exploring datasets, cleaning the data to remove issues and noise, transforming the data into a more useful format, performing aggregations, filtering and grouping of the data, visualizing the results and ultimately reaching some kind of conclusion. The key thing in data analysis is to identify some ‘actionable insight’ - i.e. something that you didn’t know before (insight), that’s actionable (you actually use it to make a business decision).

What is the difference between data analytics and data analysis?

Nothing - they are the same thing.

Why is data analysis an important skill?

Data is the new oil, as they say! Every industry, every company, every function and every team is being transformed by the use of data, and with the volume of data generated exploding exponentially over the last few years, many roles now require data analysis. This extends from data specialists roles like data analysts and data scientists, through to more shadow analytics roles that require at least some basic data analysis and data literacy.

What is the data analysis test on Alooba?

The data analysis test is a practical assessment on Alooba where candidates are provided datasets about a real organization. They’re given some information about the organization and some descriptions of the datasets. Basically, it’s like a mini case study.

The datasets are from real companies across a range of industries, including supermarkets, retail, online, tech, travel, education and food delivery.

The datasets include real world issues, like missing values, strangely named columns, outliers and other real world imperfections. This is essential to making the data analysis test a realistic evaluation of the candidate’s skills, and not an academic formality based on theories. This test has no theory - it’s 100% practical.

The candidates have a short preparation period (5-10 minutes) where they are able to see the case study and familiarize themselves with the

Candidates complete their analysis in a tool of their choice. This could be Python, R, a SQL database, MS Excel, PowerBI or more.

Is this only a hiring assessment?

No, you can use this assessment either with your own team members on Alooba Growth or with candidates on Alooba Assess.

Where do the datasets come from?

The datasets are from real organisations. The data has been anonymized or pseudonymized to strip them of any personally identifiable information.

Is this an academic style of assessment?

No, this is a practical assessment evaluating real world data analytics skills. The data can be messy at times - outliers, missing values, oddly named columns. The datasets are real and challenge the candidate like they would be in their day-to-day role in your organization.

What insights do customers get about the candidate’s data analysis skills?

Alooba customers receive deep insights about their candidate’s data analysis skills, including their strengths and weaknesses, areas for improvement and benchmarking against other candidates. Candidates also provide their full working files for you to see how they arrived at their answers.

What are the main features of the data analysis test?

The data analysis test has a lot of powerful functionality which allows you to evaluate candidates’ data analytics skills at scale. With the data analysis test, you can leverage:

• automated grading
• full visibility of candidate’s results and performance
• benchmarking against other candidates
• choose questions from a variety of topics
• choose datasets from a variety of industries
• customize the comms with the candidate
• advanced cheating protection
• add your own questions
• add your own cases & datasets

Can we customize the data analysis test?

Yes, you can customize every aspect of the data analysis test including:

• Length
• Difficulty
• Datasets
• Case study
• Questions
• Question order
• Candidate comms

You can also add your own datasets and your own questions via the question bank. If there’s anything else that you’re looking to customize, please reach out to your account manager.

What happens if I already have my own data analysis test?

Many Alooba customers upgrade from their manual tests to a professional Alooba assessment. Typically they report that their own data analyst tests were ok, but suffered from several significant challenges:

• manual everything (grading, administration, content creation etc.) which takes on average 2 hours per test for your team to deal with
• with the average test taking 8-12 hours for a candidate to complete, many of the best candidates drop-out of this process
• limited set of questions to choose from, and limited to the skill set of your team
• impossible to control and prevent cheating

Where do the data analysis test questions come from?

All the Alooba content is created by (human!) experts from a variety of fields and industries, including leading organizations like Google, PwC, Woolworths, British Airways and CitiBank.

Which industries use the data analysis test?

Companies from every industry use the data analysis test. Data analytics is what’s known as a transferable skill, which means that the skill can easily be transferred between different companies and industries.

Which functions of a business use the data analysis test?

With the importance of data being realized more and more widely, every function in a business now really needs people with data analytics skills. Yes, clearly some roles will have more advanced requirements than others, but pretty much every role now needs to have some basic data skills. That’s why the data analysis test is popular right across a business.

Which types of roles are assessed with the data analysis test?

Roles right across the business now require data analysis skills. The most common roles are - of course - data specialists like data analysts, data scientists, data engineers, marketing analysts, product analysts and financial analysts.

Can I see an example of the data analysis test?

Absolutely, here’s an example that you can click through. Remember though:

• this is just an example - you can customise the experience and pick whichever questions you like
• this is the candidate experience. As a customer, you will see the full insights on a candidate’s results page.

Is there a free data analysis practice test on Alooba?

Absolutely, you can take a free practice data analysis test here.

What topics can we test the candidate in?

The data analysis test includes a wide range of topics to choose from, including exploratory data analysis, data cleansing, aggregating and filtering, creating new metrics, choosing appropriate metrics, dealing with outliers, dealing with missing data and more.

Can we add our own questions to the data analysis test?

Yes, you add your own questions and associated datasets via the question bank.

What are the main benefits of the Alooba data analysis test?

The data analysis test allows you to easily test your candidates’ data analysts skills quickly and simply

• avoid human bias & subjectivity with automated grading
• remove bottlenecks with automated grading
• save time creating your own questions
• avoid candidates easily cheating

Is the data analysis in person or remote?

The data analysis test is done fully remotely/online.

How do you prevent candidates cheating on the data analysis test?

Alooba has advanced cheating protection. Check out our guide here which covers it off in more detail.

How are the candidates’ data analysis work graded?

The data analysis is automatically graded by the Alooba system. The candidate also uploads their working files which allows you to see how they arrived at their answers.

How long does the data analysis go for?

The test goes for however long you set it for. Typically, this will be 20-60 minutes, depending on how many questions are included in the assessment. You choose the time when setting up your test.

How is the data analysis test structured?

Before the test starts, the candidate has a preparation period, during which they get to download the datasets and start to explore them. This helps them familiarize themselves with the data, before then diving into the actual test. The preparation time is set by you, and most customers choose 5-10 minutes.

Once the preparation time is over, the candidates then have the allotted time to complete their test. The test itself is then also timed, during which period the candidates are completing their data analysis.

What happens during the preparation time for the candidate?

The candidates have time to familiarize themselves with the datasets, set-up their environment and read about the case study.

Is the data analysis test the only test on Alooba?

No, the data analysis test is just one of many different tests on Alooba, including the Python test, R test, SQL test and many others.

Who should use the data analysis test?

The data analysis test is suitable for hiring managers, talent acquisition and recruiters to use when evaluating candidates’ data analytics skills.

How much does the data analysis test cost?

You can access the data analysis in all of the Alooba subscription packages, which you can find here.

How do I get access to the Alooba data analysis test?

You can sign-up directly here or talk to us.