CET Data Management and Analytics 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which type of analytics focuses on understanding what has already happened by examining historical data?
- Predictive analytics
- Prescriptive analytics
- Descriptive analytics (Correct answer)
- Cognitive analytics
Correct answer: Descriptive analytics
Descriptive analytics examines historical data to answer 'what happened,' forming the foundation for more advanced analytical types.
Question 2: What is the primary purpose of a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) in data analytics?
- To define the data schema for a reporting database
- To measure progress toward a specific business objective (Correct answer)
- To identify anomalies in raw transactional data
- To automate data ingestion from external APIs
Correct answer: To measure progress toward a specific business objective
A KPI is a quantifiable metric that tracks how effectively an organization is achieving a key business objective, enabling performance management.
Question 3: What does OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) enable that traditional transactional (OLTP) systems do not?
- Real-time processing of individual financial transactions
- Multi-dimensional analysis of large datasets from multiple perspectives (Correct answer)
- High-speed row-level inserts and updates in relational tables
- Secure authentication and role-based access control for databases
Correct answer: Multi-dimensional analysis of large datasets from multiple perspectives
OLAP allows users to analyze data across multiple dimensions (e.g., time, region, product) simultaneously, enabling complex analytical queries that OLTP systems are not optimized for.
Question 4: Which analytical method uses historical data and statistical algorithms to forecast future outcomes?
- Descriptive analytics
- Diagnostic analytics
- Prescriptive analytics
- Predictive analytics (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Predictive analytics
Predictive analytics applies machine learning models and statistical algorithms to historical data to generate probabilistic forecasts about future events or behaviors.
Question 5: In data analytics, what is the role of data visualization?
- To encrypt sensitive data fields before presenting them to end users
- To convert raw datasets into compressed binary formats for storage efficiency
- To represent data graphically so that patterns, trends, and outliers are quickly understandable (Correct answer)
- To validate data schema compliance before loading into a data warehouse
Correct answer: To represent data graphically so that patterns, trends, and outliers are quickly understandable
Data visualization translates complex datasets into charts, graphs, and dashboards that allow stakeholders to rapidly identify insights, trends, and anomalies.
Question 6: What is the difference between supervised and unsupervised machine learning in the context of data analytics?
- Supervised learning uses labeled training data; unsupervised learning discovers patterns in unlabeled data (Correct answer)
- Supervised learning operates without human input; unsupervised learning requires constant human oversight
- Supervised learning is used only for image recognition; unsupervised learning is used only for text analysis
- Supervised learning runs in real time; unsupervised learning processes data in batch mode only
Correct answer: Supervised learning uses labeled training data; unsupervised learning discovers patterns in unlabeled data
Supervised learning trains models on labeled input-output pairs to predict outcomes, while unsupervised learning identifies hidden patterns or groupings in data without predefined labels.
Question 7: Which statistical measure best describes the central tendency of a dataset that contains significant outliers?
- Mean (arithmetic average)
- Standard deviation
- Median (Correct answer)
- Variance
Correct answer: Median
The median is resistant to the distorting effect of outliers because it represents the middle value, whereas the mean is pulled toward extreme values.
CET Data Management and Analytics 2
Which type of analytics focuses on understanding what has already happened by examining historical data?