As a data analyst, data preparation, also known as data cleaning or data cleansing, will often account for a majority of your time. A potential employer is going to want to know that you’re familiar with the process and why it’s important.
In your answer, give a short description of what data cleaning is and why it’s important to the overall process. Then walk through the steps you typically take to clean a data set. Consider mentioning how you handle:
- Missing data
- Duplicate data
- Data from different sources
- Structural errors
- Outliers
Interviewer might also ask:
- How do you deal with messy data?
- What is data cleaning?