Design an A/B test for a search ranking change
Last updated: January 24, 2026
Quick Overview
Design an experiment to test the impact of a redesigned homepage. Include sample size calculation, metrics, and analysis plan.
Anthropic
January 24, 202610
5
2,366 solved
Design an experiment to test the impact of a redesigned homepage. Include sample size calculation, metrics, and analysis plan.
Anthropic asks this during the Take-home Project to assess your experimentation skills. They want to see how you define success metrics, design controlled experiments, and interpret results with appropriate statistical rigor.
What the Interviewer Expects
- Design a rigorous experiment with proper randomization and sample size calculation
- Define primary and guardrail metrics with clear rationale
- Address novelty effects, network effects, and interference
- Segment results appropriately and identify heterogeneous treatment effects
- Propose follow-up analyses when results are ambiguous
Key Topics to Cover
How to Approach This
- Define success metrics carefully. A good metric is measurable, actionable, and aligned with business goals.
- Run experiments long enough to account for novelty effects and weekly seasonality.
- Use funnel analysis to identify where users drop off for maximum optimization impact.
- Segment results by key dimensions (platform, country, user cohort) to catch hidden patterns.
- Consider network effects and interference between treatment and control groups.
Possible Follow-up Questions
- What if the experiment shows a positive short-term effect but you suspect a negative long-term impact?
- How would you handle interference between treatment and control?
- What would you do if a stakeholder wants to end the experiment early because initial results look good?
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Browse Analytics QuestionsSample Answer
Problem Setup
The analytical question for this A/B test is: "Does the redesigned homepage improve user engagement and conversion rates compared to the current homepage?" To address this question, we need to collect...
Methodology
For this A/B test, we will use a randomized controlled trial (RCT) approach. We will randomly assign users to either the control group (current homepage) or the treatment group (redesigned homepage). ...
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