Module 1

Data integrity is the accuracy, completeness, consistency, and trustworthiness of data

throughout its lifecycle
data transfer, which is the process of copying data from a storage device to memory, or from
one computer to another.
More about data integrity and compliance
 Data Constraints: Data constraints are rules that ensure the validity of data, including
types, ranges, and uniqueness, which help maintain data integrity.
 Accuracy: Accuracy measures how closely data values reflect the actual entity being
described, enhancing the reliability of data analysis.
 Data Integrity: Data integrity refers to the accuracy and consistency of data over its
lifecycle, ensuring that data remains valid and reliable for analysis.
 Data Type: Data type specifies the kind of data that can be stored, such as date, number,
or text, which is crucial for data validation.
 Data Range: Data range defines the acceptable limits for data values, ensuring that they
fall within predefined minimum and maximum values.
This reading illustrates the importance of data integrity using an example of a global company’s
data. Definitions of terms that are relevant to data integrity will be provided at the end.
Scenario: calendar dates for a global company
Calendar dates are represented in a lot of different short forms. Depending on where you live, a
different format might be used.
 In some countries, 12/10/20 (DD/MM/YY) stands for October 12, 2020.
 In other countries, the national standard is YYYY-MM-DD so October 12, 2020 becomes
2020-10-12.
 In the United States, (MM/DD/YY) is the accepted format so October 12, 2020 is going
to be 10/12/20.
Now, think about what would happen if you were working as a data analyst for a global company
and didn’t check date formats. Well, your data integrity would probably be questionable. Any
analysis of the data would be inaccurate. Imagine ordering extra inventory for December when it
was actually needed in October!
A good analysis depends on the integrity of the data, and data integrity usually depends on using
a common format. So it is important to double-check how dates are formatted to make sure what
you think is December 10, 2020 isn’t really October 12, 2020, and vice versa.
Here are some other things to watch out for:
 Data replication compromising data integrity: Continuing with the example, imagine
you ask your international counterparts to verify dates and stick to one format. One
analyst copies a large dataset to check the dates. But because of memory issues, only part
of the dataset is actually copied. The analyst would be verifying and standardizing
incomplete data. That partial dataset would be certified as compliant but the full dataset
would still contain dates that weren't verified. Two versions of a dataset can introduce
inconsistent results. A final audit of results would be essential to reveal what happened
and correct all dates.
 Data transfer compromising data integrity: Another analyst checks the dates in a
spreadsheet and chooses to import the validated and standardized data back to the
database. But suppose the date field from the spreadsheet was incorrectly classified as a
text field during the data import (transfer) process. Now some of the dates in the database
are stored as text strings. At this point, the data needs to be cleaned to restore its
integrity.
 Data manipulation compromising data integrity: When checking dates, another
analyst notices what appears to be a duplicate record in the database and removes it. But
it turns out that the analyst removed a unique record for a company’s subsidiary and not a
duplicate record for the company. Your dataset is now missing data and the data must be
restored for completeness.
Conclusion
Fortunately, with a standard date format and compliance by all people and systems that work
with the data, data integrity can be maintained. But no matter where your data comes from,
always be sure to check that it is valid, complete, and clean before you begin any analysis.
Data constraint Definition Examples

Data type Values must be of a certain If the data type is a date, a single number like 30 would
type: date, number, fail the constraint and be invalid
percentage, Boolean, etc.

Data range Values must fall between If the data range is 10-20, a value of 30 would fail the
predefined maximum and constraint and be invalid
minimum values

Mandatory Values can’t be left blank or If age is mandatory, that value must be filled in
empty

Unique Values can’t have a Two people can’t have the same mobile phone number
duplicate within the same service area

Regular Values must match a A phone number must match ###-###-#### (no other
expression prescribed pattern characters allowed)
(regex) patterns

Cross-field Certain conditions for Values are percentages and values from multiple fields
validation multiple fields must be must add up to 100%
satisfied

Primary-key (Databases only) value must A database table can’t have two rows with the same
be unique per column primary key value. A primary key is an identifier in a
database that references a column in which each value is
unique. More information about primary and foreign
keys is provided later in the program.

Set-membership (Databases only) values for Value for a column must be set to Yes, No, or Not
a column must come from a Applicable
set of discrete values

Foreign-key (Databases only) values for In a U.S. taxpayer database, the State column must be a
a column must be unique valid state or territory with the set of acceptable values
values coming from a defined in a separate States table
column in another table

Accuracy The degree to which the If values for zip codes are validated by street location,
data conforms to the actual the accuracy of the data goes up.
entity being measured or
described

Completeness The degree to which the If data for personal profiles required hair and eye color,
data contains all desired and both are collected, the data is complete.
components or measures

Consistency The degree to which the If a customer has the same address in the sales and repair
data is repeatable from databases, the data is consistent.
different points of entry or
Reference: Data constraints and examples
As you progress in your data journey, you'll come across many types of data constraints (or
criteria that determine validity). The table below offers definitions and examples of data
constraint terms you might come across.

Well-aligned objectives and data

 Data Alignment: Data alignment refers to the process of ensuring that the data collected
is relevant and directly supports the business objectives, allowing for accurate
conclusions.
 Business Objectives: Business objectives are specific goals that a company aims to
achieve, which guide the data analysis process and help determine the relevance of the
data collected.
 Data Cleaning: Data cleaning involves the process of correcting or removing inaccurate
records from a dataset to improve the quality of data analysis.
 Data Constraints: Data constraints are limitations set on data analysis to ensure that
only relevant data is considered, enhancing the accuracy of conclusions drawn.
You can gain powerful insights and make accurate conclusions when data is well-aligned to
business objectives. As a data analyst, alignment is something you will need to judge. Good
alignment means that the data is relevant and can help you solve a business problem or determine
a course of action to achieve a given business objective.
In this reading, you will review the business objectives associated with three scenarios. You will
explore how clean data and well-aligned business objectives can help you come up with accurate
conclusions. On top of that, you will learn how new variables discovered during data analysis
can cause you to set up data constraints so you can keep the data aligned to a business
objective.
Clean data + alignment to business objective = accurate conclusions
Business objective
Account managers at Impress Me, an online content subscription service, want to know how
soon users view content after their subscriptions are activated.

To start off, the data analyst verifies that the data exported to spreadsheets is clean and confirms
that the data needed (when users access content) is available. Knowing this, the analyst decides
there is good alignment of the data to the business objective. All that is missing is figuring out
exactly how long it takes each user to view content after their subscription has been activated.
Here are the data processing steps the analyst takes for a user from an account called V&L
Consulting. (These steps would be repeated for each subscribing account, and for each user
associated with that account.)
Step 1

Data-processing step Source of data

Look up the activation date for V&L Consulting Account spreadsheet

Relevant data in spreadsheet:

Result: October 21, 2019

Step 2
 Data-processing step Source of data

Look up the name of a user belonging to the V&L Consulting account Account spreadsheet (users ta

Relevant data in spreadsheet:

Result: Maria Ballantyne

Step 3

Data-processing step Source of data

Find the first content access date for Maria B. Content usage spreadsheet

Relevant data in spreadsheet:

Result: October 31, 2019

Step 4

Data-processing step Source of data

Calculate the time between activation and first content usage for Maria B. New spreadsheet calculati

Relevant data in spreadsheet:

Result: 10 days
Pro tip 1
In the above process, the analyst could use VLOOKUP to look up the data in Steps 1, 2, and 3 to
populate the values in the spreadsheet in Step 4. VLOOKUP is a spreadsheet function that
searches for a certain value in a column to return a related piece of information. Using
VLOOKUP can save a lot of time; without it, you have to look up dates and names manually.
Refer to the VLOOKUP page in the Google Help Center for how to use the function in Google
Sheets.
Pro tip 2
In Step 4 of the above process, the analyst could use the DATEDIF function to automatically
calculate the difference between the dates in column C and column D. The function can calculate
the number of days between two dates.
Refer to the Microsoft Support DATEDIF page for how to use the function in Excel. The
DAYS360 function does the same thing in accounting spreadsheets that use a 360-day year
(twelve 30-day months).
Refer to the DATEDIF page in the Google Help Center for how to use the function in Google
Sheets.
Alignment to business objective + additional data cleaning = accurate conclusions
Business objective
Cloud Gate, a software company, recently hosted a series of public webinars as free product
introductions. The data analyst and webinar program manager want to identify companies that
had five or more people attend these sessions. They want to give this list of companies to sales
managers who can follow up for potential sales.

The webinar attendance data includes the fields and data shown below.

Name <First name> <Last name> This was required information attendees had to sub

Email Address xxxxx@[Link] This was required information attendees had to submit
 Name <First name> <Last name> This was required information attendees had to sub

Company <Company name> This was optional information attendees could provide

Data cleaning
The webinar attendance data seems to align with the business objective. But the data analyst and
program manager decide that some data cleaning is needed before the analysis. They think data
cleaning is required because:
 The company name wasn’t a mandatory field. If the company name is blank, it might be
found from the email address. For example, if the email address is
username@[Link], the company field could be filled in with Google for the data
analysis. This data cleaning step assumes that people with company-assigned email
addresses attended a webinar for business purposes.
 Attendees could enter any name. Since attendance across a series of webinars is being
looked at, they need to validate names against unique email addresses. For example, if
Joe Cox attended two webinars but signed in as Joe Cox for one and Joseph Cox for the
other, he would be counted as two different people. To prevent this, they need to check
his unique email address to determine that he was the same person. After the validation,
Joseph Cox could be changed to Joe Cox to match the other instance.
Alignment to business objective + newly discovered variables + constraints = accurate
conclusions
Business objective
An after-school tutoring company, A+ Education, wants to know if there is a minimum number
of tutoring hours needed before students have at least a 10% improvement in their assessment
scores.

The data analyst thinks there is good alignment between the data available and the business
objective because:
  Students log in and out of a system for each tutoring session, and the number of hours is
tracked
 Assessment scores are regularly recorded
Data constraints for new variables
After looking at the data, the data analyst discovers that there are other variables to consider.
Some students had consistent weekly sessions while other students had scheduled sessions more
randomly even though their total number of tutoring hours was the same. The data doesn’t align
as well with the original business objective as first thought, so the analyst adds a data constraint
to focus only on the students with consistent weekly sessions. This modification helps to get a
more accurate picture about the enrollment time needed to achieve a 10% improvement in
assessment scores.
Key takeaways
Hopefully these examples give you a sense of what to look for to know if your data aligns with
your business objective.
 When there is clean data and good alignment, you can get accurate insights and make
conclusions the data supports.
 If there is good alignment but the data needs to be cleaned, clean the data before you
perform your analysis.
 If the data only partially aligns with an objective, think about how you could modify the
objective, or use data constraints to make sure that the subset of data better aligns with
the business objective.
Data integrity involves the accuracy, completeness, consistency, and trustworthiness of data
throughout its lifecycle.
To make data more organized and easier to read, data analysts use data manipulation.
Changing all of the dates to the same format would improve the data integrity.

Types of insufficient data

- Data from only one source
- Data that keeps updating
- Outdated data
- Geographically – limited data
Ways to address insufficient data
 - Identify trends with the available data
- Wait for more data if time allows
- Talk with stakeholders and adjust your objective

When you find an issue with your data

 Decision Tree: A decision tree is a visual tool that helps guide users through the process
of addressing data issues by outlining possible decisions.
 Data Errors: Data errors refer to inaccuracies in the dataset that can arise from
misunderstandings or incorrect data collection methods.
 Proxy Data: Proxy data serves as a substitute for actual data when the latter is
unavailable, allowing for preliminary analysis.
 Data Collection: Data collection is the process of gathering information to analyze,
which may need to be adjusted based on the availability of data.

When you are getting ready for data analysis, you might realize you don’t have the data you need
or you don’t have enough of it. In some cases, you can use what is known as proxy data in place
of the real data. Think of it like substituting oil for butter in a recipe when you don’t have butter.
In other cases, there is no reasonable substitute and your only option is to collect more data.
Consider the following data issues and suggestions on how to work around them.
Data issue 1: no data

Possible Solutions Examples of solutions in real life

Gather the data on a small scale to perform a If you are surveying employees about what they think
preliminary analysis and then request about a new performance and bonus plan, use a
additional time to complete the analysis after sample for a preliminary analysis. Then, ask for
you have collected more data. another 3 weeks to collect the data from all
employees.

If there isn’t time to collect data, perform the If you are analyzing peak travel times for commuters
analysis using proxy data from other but don’t have the data for a particular city, use the
datasets. This is the most common data from another city with a similar size and
workaround. demographic.

Data issue 2: too little data

 Possible Solutions Examples of solutions in real life

Do the analysis using proxy If you are analyzing trends for owners of golden retrievers, make your
data along with actual data. dataset larger by including the data from owners of labradors.

Adjust your analysis to align If you are missing data for 18- to 24-year-olds, do the analysis but
with the data you already note the following limitation in your report: this conclusion applies to
have. adults 25 years and older only.

Data issue 3: wrong data, including data with errors*

Possible Solutions Examples of solutions in real life

If you have the wrong data because requirements If you need the data for female voters and
were misunderstood, communicate the received the data for male voters, restate your
requirements again. needs.

Identify errors in the data and, if possible, correct If your data is in a spreadsheet and there is a
them at the source by looking for a pattern in the conditional statement or boolean causing
errors. calculations to be wrong, change the
conditional statement instead of just fixing the
calculated values.

If you can’t correct data errors yourself, you can If your dataset was translated from a different
ignore the wrong data and go ahead with the language and some of the translations don’t
analysis if your sample size is still large enough make sense, ignore the data with bad translation
and ignoring the data won’t cause systematic bias. and go ahead with the analysis of the other
data.

* Important note: Sometimes data with errors can be a warning sign that the data isn’t reliable.
Use your best judgment.
Use the following decision tree as a reminder of how to deal with data errors or not enough
data:
1. Can you fix or request a corrected dataset? NO 2. Do you have enough data to omit the wrong
data? NO 3. Can you proxy the data? NO 4. Can you collect more data? NO Modify the business
objective (if possible)

Population: All possible data values in a certain dataset

Sample size: A part of a population that is representative of the population
Sampling bias: A sample isn’t representative of the population as a whole (Sampling bias occurs
when some members of a population are overrepresented or underrepresented in the data.)
Random sampling: A way of selecting a sample from a population so that every possible type of
the sample has an equal chance of being chosen

Calculate sample size

Statistical Significance: The likelihood that the results observed in the sample are not due to
random chance, indicating the reliability of the findings.
 Population: The entire group that you are interested in for your study, such as all employees
in a company.
Margin of Error: The expected difference between the sample results and the actual
population results, indicating the accuracy of the sample.
Confidence Level: The degree of certainty in the survey results, often expressed as a
percentage, indicating how often the results would be similar if the survey were repeated.
Sample: A subset of the population used to represent the whole, allowing for manageable
data collection.
Confidence Interval: The range of values within which the true population parameter is
expected to fall, based on the sample results and margin of error.

Before you dig deeper into sample size, familiarize yourself with these terms and definitions:

Terminology Definitions

Population The entire group that you are interested in for your study. For example, if you are
surveying people in your company, the population would be all the employees in
your company.

Sample A subset of your population. Just like a food sample, it is called a sample because it
is only a taste. So if your company is too large to survey every individual, you can
survey a representative sample of your population.

Margin of Since a sample is used to represent a population, the sample’s results are expected
error to differ from what the result would have been if you had surveyed the entire
population. This difference is called the margin of error. The smaller the margin of
error, the closer the results of the sample are to what the result would have been if
you had surveyed the entire population.

Confidence How confident you are in the survey results. For example, a 95% confidence level
level means that if you were to run the same survey 100 times, you would get similar
results 95 of those 100 times. Confidence level is targeted before you start your
study because it will affect how big your margin of error is at the end of your
study.

Confidence The range of possible values that the population’s result would be at the confidence
interval level of the study. This range is the sample result +/- the margin of error.
 Terminology Definitions

Statistical The determination of whether your result could be due to random chance or not.
significance The greater the significance, the less due to chance.

Things to remember when determining the size of your sample

When figuring out a sample size, here are things to keep in mind:
 Don’t use a sample size less than 30. It has been statistically proven that 30 is the
smallest sample size where an average result of a sample starts to represent the average
result of a population.
 The confidence level most commonly used is 95%, but 90% can work in some cases.
Increase the sample size to meet specific needs of your project:
 For a higher confidence level, use a larger sample size
 To decrease the margin of error, use a larger sample size
 For greater statistical significance, use a larger sample size
Note: Sample size calculators use statistical formulas to determine a sample size. More about
these are coming up in the course! Stay tuned.
Why a minimum sample of 30?
This recommendation is based on the Central Limit Theorem (CLT) in the field of probability
and statistics. As sample size increases, the results more closely resemble the normal (bell-
shaped) distribution from a large number of samples. A sample of 30 is the smallest sample size
for which the CLT is still valid. Researchers who rely on regression analysis – statistical
methods to determine the relationships between controlled and dependent variables – also prefer
a minimum sample of 30.
Still curious? Without getting too much into the math, check out these articles:
 Central Limit Theorem (CLT): This article by Investopedia explains the Central Limit
Theorem and briefly describes how it can apply to an analysis of a stock index.
 Sample Size Formula: This article by Statistics Solutions provides a little more detail
about why some researchers use 30 as a minimum sample size.
Sample sizes vary by business problem
Sample size will vary based on the type of business problem you are trying to solve.
For example, if you live in a city with a population of 200,000 and get 180,000 people to respond
to a survey, that is a large sample size. But without actually doing that, what would an
acceptable, smaller sample size look like?
Would 200 be alright if the people surveyed represented every district in the city?
Answer: It depends on the stakes.
 A sample size of 200 might be large enough if your business problem is to find out how
residents felt about the new library
 A sample size of 200 might not be large enough if your business problem is to determine
how residents would vote to fund the library
You could probably accept a larger margin of error surveying how residents feel about the new
library versus surveying residents about how they would vote to fund it. For that reason, you
would most likely use a larger sample size for the voter survey.

Larger sample sizes have a higher cost

You also have to weigh the cost against the benefits of more accurate results with a larger sample
size. Someone who is trying to understand consumer preferences for a new line of products
wouldn’t need as large a sample size as someone who is trying to understand the effects of a new
drug. For drug safety, the benefits outweigh the cost of using a larger sample size. But for
consumer preferences, a smaller sample size at a lower cost could provide good enough results.

Knowing the basics is helpful

Knowing the basics will help you make the right choices when it comes to sample size. You can
always raise concerns if you come across a sample size that is too small. A sample size calculator
is also a great tool for this. Sample size calculators let you enter a desired confidence level and
margin of error for a given population size. They then calculate the sample size needed to
statistically achieve those results.
Refer to the Determine the Best Sample Size video for a demonstration of a sample size
calculator, or refer to the Sample Size Calculator reading for additional information.
Key takeaways
As you continue on your data analytics journey, be sure to familiarize yourself with key terms
including population, sample, margin of error, confidence level, and confidence interval before
calculating sample size. Remember that a minimum sample size of 30 is recommended and that
sample size varies depending on the specific business problem. Also consider the trade-off
between accuracy and cost when determining sample size, as larger sample sizes provide more
accurate results but at a higher cost. Finally, use sample size calculators to determine the
appropriate sample size for your study.

Pre-cleaning activities
Step 1: Review data integrity
Before data analysts can analyze data, they first need to think about and understand the data
they're working with. Assessing data integrity is a key step in this process. As you've learned in
previous lessons, you should complete the following tasks before analyzing data:
1. Determine data integrity by assessing the overall accuracy, consistency, and completeness of
the data.
2. Connect objectives to data by understanding how your business objectives can be served by an
investigation into the data.
3. Know when to stop collecting data.
Data analysts perform pre-cleaning activities to complete these steps. Pre-cleaning activities help
you determine and maintain data integrity, which is essential to the role of a junior data analyst.
Step 2: Identify what makes data insufficient
One of the objectives of pre-cleaning activities is to address insufficient data. Recall from
previous lessons that data can be insufficient for a number of reasons. Insufficient data has one or
more of the following problems:
 Comes from only one source
 Continuously updates and is incomplete
 Is outdated
 Is geographically limited
Step 3: Deal with insufficient data
To deal with insufficient data, you can:
 Identify trends within the available data.
 Wait for more data if time allows.
 Discuss with stakeholders and adjust your objective.
 Search for a new dataset.

Statistical Power: The probability of getting meaningful results from a test

Hypothesis testing: A way to see if a survey or experiment has meaningful results
A 0.8 or 80% statistical power is typically considered the minimum for statistical
significance.
A Gentle Introduction to Statistical Power and Power Analysis in Python sums it up nicely:
"Statistical power can be calculated and reported for a completed experiment to comment on the
confidence one might have in the conclusions drawn from the results of the study. It can also be
used as a tool to estimate the number of observations or sample size required in order to detect an
effect in an experiment."
Optional: If you want a more detailed explanation of statistical power and power analysis, the
above link is a tutorial that also lists additional references.

When data isn't readily available

 Proxy Data: Proxy data refers to alternative datasets used to estimate or predict
outcomes when actual data is not available.
 Data Quality: Data quality refers to the accuracy and reliability of data, which is crucial
when using proxy or open datasets for analysis.
 Open Datasets: Open datasets are publicly available data sources that can be utilized for
analysis, often found in online repositories.
 Null Values: Null values indicate unassigned data fields in datasets, which can affect data
analysis and interpretation.
Earlier, you learned how you can still do an analysis using proxy data if you have no data. You
might have some questions about proxy data, so this reading will give you a few more examples
of the types of datasets that can serve as alternate data sources.
Proxy data examples
Sometimes the data to support a business objective isn’t readily available. This is when proxy
data is useful. Take a look at the following scenarios and where proxy data comes in for each
example:

Business scenario How proxy data can be used

A new car model was just launched a few days ago The analyst proxies the number of clicks to the
and the auto dealership can’t wait until the end of car specifications on the dealership’s website
the month for sales data to come in. They want sales as an estimate of potential sales at the
projections now. dealership.

A brand new plant-based meat product was only The analyst proxies the sales data for a turkey
recently stocked in grocery stores and the supplier substitute made out of tofu that has been on
needs to estimate the demand over the next four the market for several years.
years.

The Chamber of Commerce wants to know how a The analyst proxies the historical data for
tourism campaign is going to impact travel to their airline bookings to the city one to three
city, but the results from the campaign aren’t months after a similar campaign was run six
publicly available yet. months earlier.

Open (public) datasets

If you are part of a large organization, you might have access to lots of sources of data. But if
you are looking for something specific or a little outside your line of business, you can also make
use of open or public datasets. (You can refer to this Medium article for a brief explanation of the
difference between open and public data.)
Here's an example. A nasal version of a vaccine was recently made available. A clinic wants to
know what to expect for contraindications, but just started collecting first-party data from its
patients. A contraindication is a condition that may cause a patient not to take a vaccine due to
the harm it would cause them if taken. To estimate the number of possible contraindications, a
data analyst proxies an open dataset from a trial of the injection version of the vaccine. The
analyst selects a subset of the data with patient profiles most closely matching the makeup of the
patients at the clinic.
There are plenty of ways to share and collaborate on data within a community. Kaggle
([Link]) which we previously introduced, has datasets in a variety of formats including the
most basic type, Comma Separated Values (CSV) files.
CSV, JSON, SQLite, and BigQuery datasets
 CSV: Check out this Credit card customers dataset, which has information from 10,000
customers including age, salary, marital status, credit card limit, credit card category,
etc. (CC0: Public Domain, Sakshi Goyal).
 JSON: Check out this JSON dataset for trending YouTube videos (CC0: Public Domain,
Mitchell J).
 SQLite: Check out this SQLite dataset for 24 years worth of U.S. wildfire data (CC0:
Public Domain, Rachael Tatman).
 BigQuery: Check out this Google Analytics 360 sample dataset from the Google
Merchandise Store (CC0 Public Domain, Google BigQuery).
Refer to the Kaggle documentation for datasets for more information and search for and explore
datasets on your own at [Link]/datasets.
As with all other kinds of datasets, be on the lookout for duplicate data and ‘Null’ in open
datasets. Null most often means that a data field was unassigned (left empty), but sometimes
Null can be interpreted as the value, 0. It is important to understand how Null was used before
you start analyzing a dataset with Null data.
Key takeaways
As you work on data analysis projects, proxy data can often be used to estimate or predict
outcomes when actual data is not available. Open or public datasets can be used as proxy data
sources, and there are many available online repositories for finding relevant datasets. But be
cautious when using proxy data and ensure that it is well-suited for the intended purpose. Finally,
check for duplicate data and null values in open datasets before using them for analysis.
Confidence level: The probability that your sample size accurately reflects the greater population
Having a 99% confidence level is ideal, but most industries hope for at lease a 90% or 95%
confidence level
To use the sample size calculator spreadsheet, click the link below and select “Use Template.”
Link to template: Sample Size Calculator
To calculate sample size using an online calculator, it’s necessary to input the confidence
level, margin of error, and population size.

Sample size calculator

In this reading, you will learn the basics of sample size calculators, how to use them, and how to
understand the results. A sample size calculator tells you how many people you need to
interview (or things you need to test) to get results that represent the target population. Let’s
review some terms you will come across when using a sample size calculator:
 Confidence level: The probability that your sample size accurately reflects the greater
population.
 Margin of error: The maximum amount that the sample results are expected to differ
from those of the actual population.
 Population: This is the total number you hope to pull your sample from.
 Sample: A part of a population that is representative of the population.
 Estimated response rate: If you are running a survey of individuals, this is the
percentage of people you expect will complete your survey out of those who received the
survey.
How to use a sample size calculator
In order to use a sample size calculator, you need to have the population size, confidence level,
and the acceptable margin of error already decided so you can input them into the tool. If this
information is ready to go, check out these sample size calculators below:
 Sample size calculator by [Link]
 Sample size calculator by [Link]
What to do with the results
After you have plugged your information into one of these calculators, it will give you a
recommended sample size. Keep in mind, the calculated sample size is the minimum number to
achieve what you input for confidence level and margin of error. If you are working with a
survey, you will also need to think about the estimated response rate to figure out how many
surveys you will need to send out. For example, if you need a sample size of 100 individuals and
your estimated response rate is 10%, you will need to send your survey to 1,000 individuals to
get the 100 responses you need for your analysis.
Now that you have the basics, try some calculations using the sample size calculators and refer
back to this reading if you need a refresher on the definitions.
A research team conducts an experiment to determine if a new cybersecurity tool is more
effective than the previous version. What type of results are required for the experiment to be
statistically significant? - In order for an experiment to be statistically significant, the results
should be real and not caused by random chance.
In order to have a high confidence level in a customer survey, the sample size should
accurately reflect the entire population.
Typically, a data professional aims to achieve a statistical power of at least 0.8, or 80% to
consider their results statistically significant.
Margin of error: The maximum amount that the sample results are expected to differ from those
of the actual population
To calculate the margin of error in the same spreadsheet as the instructor, click the link below
and select "Use Template." You can try entering different values to see how the margin of error
changes.
Link to template: Margin of Error Calculator

All about margin of error

 A/B Testing: A method used in marketing to compare two variations of a webpage to
determine which one performs better in terms of user engagement and conversion rates.
 Population: The total number from which a sample is drawn.
 Margin of Error: The maximum amount that the sample results are expected to differ
from those of the actual population.
 Confidence Level: A percentage indicating how likely your sample accurately reflects
the greater population.
 Sample: A part of a population that is representative of the population.

Margin of error is the maximum amount that the sample results are expected to differ from
those of the actual population. More technically, the margin of error defines a range of values
below and above the average result for the sample. The average result for the entire population is
expected to be within that range. We can better understand margin of error by using some
examples below.
Margin of error in baseball
Imagine you are playing baseball and that you are up at bat. The crowd is roaring, and you are
getting ready to try to hit the ball. The pitcher delivers a fastball traveling about 90-95mph,
which takes about 400 milliseconds (ms) to reach the catcher’s glove. You swing and miss the
first pitch because your timing was a little off. You wonder if you should have swung slightly
earlier or slightly later to hit a home run. That time difference can be considered the margin of
error, and it tells us how close or far your timing was from the average home run swing.
Margin of error in marketing
The margin of error is also important in marketing. Let’s use A/B testing as an example. A/B
testing (or split testing) tests two variations of the same web page to determine which page is
more successful in attracting user traffic and generating revenue. User traffic that gets monetized
is known as the conversion rate. A/B testing allows marketers to test emails, ads, and landing
pages to find the data behind what is working and what isn’t working. Marketers use the
confidence interval (determined by the conversion rate and the margin of error) to understand
the results.
For example, suppose you are conducting an A/B test to compare the effectiveness of two
different email subject lines to entice people to open the email. You find that subject line A:
“Special offer just for you” resulted in a 5% open rate compared to subject line B: “Don’t miss
this opportunity” at 3%.
Does that mean subject line A is better than subject line B? It depends on your margin of error. If
the margin of error was 2%, then subject line A’s actual open rate or confidence interval is
somewhere between 3% and 7%. Since the lower end of the interval overlaps with subject line
B’s results at 3%, you can’t conclude that there is a statistically significant difference between
subject line A and B. Examining the margin of error is important when making conclusions based
on your test results.
Want to calculate your margin of error?
All you need is population size, confidence level, and sample size. In order to better understand
this calculator, review these terms:
 Confidence level: A percentage indicating how likely your sample accurately reflects the
greater population
 Population: The total number you pull your sample from
 Sample: A part of a population that is representative of the population
 Margin of error: The maximum amount that the sample results are expected to differ
from those of the actual population
In most cases, a 90% or 95% confidence level is used. But, depending on your industry, you
might want to set a stricter confidence level. A 99% confidence level is reasonable in some
industries, such as the pharmaceutical industry.
After you have settled on your population size, sample size, and confidence level, plug the
information into a margin of error calculator like the ones below:
 Margin of error calculator by Good Calculators (free online calculators)
 Margin of error calculator by CheckMarket
Key takeaways
Margin of error is used to determine how close your sample’s result is to what the result would
likely have been if you could have surveyed or tested the entire population. Margin of error helps
you understand and interpret survey or test results in real-life. Calculating the margin of error is
particularly helpful when you are given the data to analyze. After using a calculator to calculate
the margin of error, you will know how much the sample results might differ from the results of
the entire population.

In a survey about a new gardening product, 80% of respondents report they would buy the
product again. The margin of error for the survey is 5%. Based on that margin of error, what
range reflects the population's true response? - Based on the margin of error, a range of 75-
85% would accurately reflect the population’s true response.

Glossary terms from module 1

Terms and definitions for Course 4, Module 1
Accuracy: The degree to which the data conforms to the actual entity being measured or
described
Completeness: The degree to which the data contains all desired components or measures
Confidence interval: A range of values that conveys how likely a statistical estimate reflects the
population
Confidence level: The probability that a sample size accurately reflects the greater population
Consistency: The degree to which data is repeatable from different points of entry or collection
Cross-field validation: A process that ensures certain conditions for multiple data fields are
satisfied
Data constraints: The criteria that determine whether a piece of a data is clean and valid
Data integrity: The accuracy, completeness, consistency, and trustworthiness of data throughout
its life cycle
Data manipulation: The process of changing data to make it more organized and easier to read
Data range: Numerical values that fall between predefined maximum and minimum values
Data replication: The process of storing data in multiple locations
DATEDIF: A spreadsheet function that calculates the number of days, months, or years between
two dates
Estimated response rate: The average number of people who typically complete a survey
Hypothesis testing: A process to determine if a survey or experiment has meaningful results
Mandatory: A data value that cannot be left blank or empty
Margin of error: The maximum amount that the sample results are expected to differ from those
of the actual population
Random sampling: A way of selecting a sample from a population so that every possible type of
the sample has an equal chance of being chosen
Regular expression (RegEx): A rule that says the values in a table must match a prescribed
pattern