Answerable analytical questions
An answerable question names the population, outcome, and comparison of interest.
Rosa's team sends a coupon to online shoppers. Two weeks later, one report calls it a success and another calls it a failure. How could one clearer question have kept the reports from disagreeing?
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What you'll learn4 ideas
- The population is the full group you want an answer about, like first-time online shoppers instead of every customer.
- The outcome is the measure that matches the result you care about, like the percentage of shoppers who place an order rather than clicks.
- The comparison is what you judge the outcome against: another group, like shoppers offered the standard price, or a target, like 15%.
- An answerable question puts the three together: among first-time online shoppers, how does the percentage who order compare between coupon recipients and shoppers offered the standard price?