Calculate variance for user retention

Last updated: October 25, 2025

Quick Overview

Given the following scenario about user conversion, calculate the the sample size needed.

Atlassian
Analytics & Experimentation
Data Scientist
Atlassian
October 25, 2025
Data Scientist
Take-home Project
Analytics & Experimentation
Hard

14

1

4,237 solved


Given the following scenario about user conversion, calculate the the sample size needed.

This analytics question from Atlassian's Take-home Project tests your ability to think critically about data. The interviewer expects you to consider confounding variables, selection bias, and the difference between correlation and causation.

What the Interviewer Expects
  • Design complex experimentation strategies for tricky scenarios
  • Handle multi-armed bandits, switchback experiments, and quasi-experiments
  • Address long-term effects vs short-term metrics
  • Propose causal inference methods when randomization is not possible
  • Build a measurement framework that connects metrics to business value
  • Discuss organizational experimentation culture and maturity
Key Topics to Cover
Simpson's paradox and ecological fallacy
Funnel analysis and cohort analysis
Long-term vs short-term metrics
Network effects and interference
Novelty and primacy effects
How to Approach This
  1. Define success metrics carefully. A good metric is measurable, actionable, and aligned with business goals.
  2. Run experiments long enough to account for novelty effects and weekly seasonality.
  3. Use funnel analysis to identify where users drop off for maximum optimization impact.
  4. Segment results by key dimensions (platform, country, user cohort) to catch hidden patterns.
  5. Consider network effects and interference between treatment and control groups.
Possible Follow-up Questions
  • What if you discover a bug in the logging during the experiment?
  • How would you handle seasonality in your experiment?
  • What if the experiment shows a positive short-term effect but you suspect a negative long-term impact?
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