Interpret a statistically significant lift of 2% from an experiment

Last updated: April 10, 2026

Quick Overview

An experiment shows conflicting results. What conclusions can you draw? What are the caveats?

Reddit
Analytics & Experimentation
Data Scientist
Reddit
April 10, 2026
Data Scientist
Take-home Project
Analytics & Experimentation
Medium

279

4

2,303 solved


An experiment shows conflicting results. What conclusions can you draw? What are the caveats?

Reddit 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
Network effects and interference
Long-term vs short-term metrics
A/B testing methodology
Sample size and power calculation
Simpson's paradox and ecological fallacy
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
  • How would you handle seasonality in your experiment?
  • What would you do if a stakeholder wants to end the experiment early because initial results look good?
  • How would you handle an experiment where the control and treatment groups are different sizes?
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