Explain p-value with an example

Last updated: October 14, 2025

Quick Overview

Explain p-value in simple terms and provide a concrete example.

Atlassian
Analytics & Experimentation
Data Scientist
Atlassian
October 14, 2025
Data Scientist
Take-home Project
Analytics & Experimentation
Hard

56

4

1,927 solved


Explain p-value in simple terms and provide a concrete example.

Analytics questions at Atlassian evaluate your ability to define metrics, design experiments, and derive actionable insights from data. This Take-home Project question tests your end-to-end analytical thinking.

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
Segmentation and heterogeneous effects
Novelty and primacy effects
Simpson's paradox and ecological fallacy
Long-term vs short-term metrics
A/B testing methodology
Guardrail metrics
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 would you do if a stakeholder wants to end the experiment early because initial results look good?
  • What if you discover a bug in the logging during the experiment?
  • How would you handle interference between treatment and control?
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