120 industry-level multiple-choice questions on data cleaning, handling missing values, outliers, encoding, scaling, and preprocessing pipelines—modeled after real data scientist and analyst interviews at FAANG, fintech, and consulting firms.
1. Which of the following is not a key aspect of data quality in preprocessing?
Correct Answer: d) Database size
Explanation:
Data quality focuses on accuracy, completeness, and consistency, not the size of the database.
2. What is a common method to handle missing class labels in a dataset?
Correct Answer: a) Ignoring the tuple
Explanation:
Ignoring tuples with missing class labels is a simple strategy when the impact is minimal.
3. In data cleaning, what technique uses statistical methods to fill missing values?
Correct Answer: b) Decision tree induction
Explanation:
Decision trees can predict probable values for missing data based on other attributes.
4. What is the primary purpose of data preprocessing in data analysis?
Correct Answer: b) To prepare data for effective analysis
Explanation:
Preprocessing transforms raw data into a format suitable for analysis and modeling.
5. Which technique is used to standardize feature ranges in preprocessing?
Correct Answer: b) Normalization
Explanation:
Normalization scales features to a common range, like 0-1, to prevent bias.
6. What does handling missing values prevent in data analysis?
Correct Answer: b) Biased model training
Explanation:
Unaddressed missing values can skew results and lead to inaccurate predictions.
7. Which method imputes missing values using the average of similar instances?
Correct Answer: b) K-NN imputation
Explanation:
K-Nearest Neighbors finds similar data points to estimate missing values.
8. In data cleaning, what is 'binning' primarily used for?
Correct Answer: a) Smoothing noisy data
Explanation:
Binning groups data into bins and replaces values with bin averages to reduce noise.
9. What is the risk of not removing duplicates in preprocessing?
Correct Answer: d) All of the above
Explanation:
Duplicates can bias models, inflate variance estimates, and slow processing.
10. Which encoding converts categorical data into binary vectors?
Correct Answer: b) One-hot encoding
Explanation:
One-hot encoding creates dummy variables for each category without ordinal assumptions.
11. What is 'data wrangling' in the context of preprocessing?
Correct Answer: b) Transforming messy data into clean format
Explanation:
Data wrangling involves cleaning and restructuring data for analysis.
12. Which technique detects outliers using statistical thresholds?
Correct Answer: a) Z-score method
Explanation:
Z-score identifies points more than 3 standard deviations from the mean as outliers.
13. What is the main goal of feature scaling in preprocessing?
Correct Answer: b) To make features comparable
Explanation:
Scaling ensures no feature dominates due to differing units or ranges.
14. In handling categorical data, when is label encoding appropriate?
Correct Answer: b) For ordinal data
Explanation:
Label encoding assigns numbers based on order, suitable for ordinal categories.
15. What does 'data integration' involve in preprocessing?
Correct Answer: a) Combining multiple data sources
Explanation:
Data integration merges datasets from different sources into a unified view.
16. Which imputation method is best for non-numerical data?
Correct Answer: b) Mode imputation
Explanation:
Mode imputation uses the most frequent value for categorical missing data.
17. What is a potential issue with mean imputation?
Correct Answer: a) Reduces variance
Explanation:
Mean imputation can underestimate variability in the dataset.
18. Which method groups data into buckets for smoothing?
Correct Answer: b) Binning
Explanation:
Binning sorts data into intervals and smooths by boundary or mean values.
19. What is 'data reduction' in preprocessing?
Correct Answer: b) Reducing data volume while preserving information
Explanation:
Data reduction techniques like PCA minimize data size without losing key insights.
20. When should you use median imputation over mean?
Correct Answer: b) For skewed distributions
Explanation:
Median is robust to outliers and skewness, unlike the mean.
21. What does PCA stand for in dimensionality reduction?
Correct Answer: a) Principal Component Analysis
Explanation:
PCA transforms data into principal components to reduce dimensions.
22. Which step checks for data consistency across sources?
Correct Answer: b) Data integration
Explanation:
Integration resolves inconsistencies when merging multiple data sources.
23. What is a common way to handle outliers in preprocessing?
Correct Answer: b) Cap or floor values
Explanation:
Capping limits extreme values to thresholds like quartiles.
24. In Python, which function detects missing values in Pandas?
Correct Answer: a) isnull()
Explanation:
Pandas' isnull() returns a boolean mask for missing values.
25. What is 'forward fill' in handling missing data?
Correct Answer: a) Filling with previous value
Explanation:
Forward fill propagates the last valid observation forward.
26. Which normalization brings data to zero mean and unit variance?
Correct Answer: b) Z-score normalization
Explanation:
Z-score uses mean and standard deviation for standardization.
27. What issue arises from inconsistent data formats?
Correct Answer: b) Parsing errors
Explanation:
Inconsistent formats like dates can cause loading or computation failures.
28. Which technique merges datasets on common keys?
Correct Answer: b) Joining
Explanation:
Joining combines tables based on matching keys like IDs.
29. What is 'data discretization' used for?
Correct Answer: a) Continuous to categorical conversion
Explanation:
Discretization bins continuous values into discrete intervals.
30. In outlier detection, what does IQR stand for?
Correct Answer: a) Interquartile Range
Explanation:
IQR method flags values outside 1.5 times the interquartile range.
31. What is a disadvantage of deleting rows with missing values?
Correct Answer: a) Data loss
Explanation:
Deletion reduces sample size, potentially biasing the dataset.
32. Which encoding preserves category frequencies?
Correct Answer: b) Frequency encoding
Explanation:
Frequency encoding replaces categories with their occurrence counts.
33. What does 'data transformation' include?
Correct Answer: a) Normalization and aggregation
Explanation:
Transformation alters data structure, like normalizing or aggregating.
34. How do you handle multicollinearity in preprocessing?
Correct Answer: a) Remove correlated features
Explanation:
Removing highly correlated features reduces redundancy and instability.
35. What is 'noise' in data cleaning?
Correct Answer: a) Random errors or variances
Explanation:
Noise refers to irrelevant or incorrect data points distorting patterns.
36. Which library in Python is used for data manipulation?
Correct Answer: b) Pandas
Explanation:
Pandas provides DataFrames for efficient data cleaning and transformation.
37. What is 'backward fill' for missing data?
Correct Answer: a) Filling with next value
Explanation:
Backward fill uses the next valid observation to fill gaps.
38. Which method is robust to outliers in scaling?
Correct Answer: b) Robust scaling
Explanation:
Robust scaling uses median and IQR, ignoring extreme values.
39. What causes data inconsistency?
Correct Answer: a) Different naming conventions
Explanation:
Synonyms or varying abbreviations across sources lead to inconsistencies.
40. In merging datasets, what is an inner join?
Correct Answer: a) Only matching records
Explanation:
Inner join returns rows with matching keys in both datasets.
41. What is entropy-based discretization?
Correct Answer: a) Supervised binning using class info
Explanation:
It uses information gain to create bins that maximize class separation.
42. How is outlier impact assessed?
Correct Answer: d) All of the above
Explanation:
Visual tools like box plots and scatters help identify outliers.
43. When is listwise deletion used?
Correct Answer: b) When data loss is acceptable
Explanation:
Listwise deletes entire rows with any missing values if sample size allows.
44. What does binary encoding do to categories?
Correct Answer: b) Converts to binary bits
Explanation:
Binary encoding halves dimensions compared to one-hot by using bits.
45. What is aggregation in transformation?
Correct Answer: a) Summarizing data
Explanation:
Aggregation computes summaries like means or counts from groups.
46. How to detect multicollinearity?
Correct Answer: c) Both a and b
Explanation:
High correlations or VIF > 5 indicate multicollinearity.
47. What smoothing method uses regression?
Correct Answer: b) Regression smoothing
Explanation:
Regression fits a model to local data for noise reduction.
48. Which Pandas method removes duplicates?
Correct Answer: a) drop_duplicates()
Explanation:
drop_duplicates() eliminates repeated rows based on specified columns.
49. What is interpolation for time series missing data?
Correct Answer: a) Linear estimation between points
Explanation:
Interpolation estimates values using surrounding data points.
50. What is L1 normalization?
Correct Answer: a) Sum to 1
Explanation:
L1 normalizes by dividing by the sum of absolute values.
51. What is entity resolution in cleaning?
Correct Answer: a) Merging similar records
Explanation:
It identifies and merges duplicates across datasets.
52. What join includes all left records?
Correct Answer: b) Left join
Explanation:
Left join keeps all from left table, matching from right.
53. What is chi-merge discretization?
Correct Answer: a) Supervised using chi-square
Explanation:
ChiMerge uses chi-square tests to determine bin boundaries.
54. What threshold for Z-score outlier?
Correct Answer: b) 3
Explanation:
Values beyond 3 standard deviations are typically outliers.
55. When to use pairwise deletion?
Correct Answer: a) For correlations
Explanation:
Pairwise uses available pairs, maximizing data for specific analyses.
56. What is target encoding?
Correct Answer: a) Replace with mean target
Explanation:
Target encoding uses the mean of the target for each category.
57. What is windowing in smoothing?
Correct Answer: a) Local averaging
Explanation:
Windowing averages values in a sliding window to smooth noise.
58. What does df.dropna() do in Pandas?
Correct Answer: b) Removes rows with missing
Explanation:
dropna() deletes rows or columns containing NaN values.
59. What is spline interpolation?
Correct Answer: a) Piecewise polynomial fitting
Explanation:
Splines use smooth polynomials between points for interpolation.
60. What is L2 normalization?
Correct Answer: a) Euclidean norm to 1
Explanation:
L2 divides by the square root of sum of squares.
61. What is fuzzy matching?
Correct Answer: a) Approximate string matching
Explanation:
Fuzzy matching handles typos or variations in entity names.
62. What is a full outer join?
Correct Answer: a) All records from both
Explanation:
Full outer join includes all rows, filling non-matches with nulls.
63. What is equal-width discretization?
Correct Answer: a) Equal bin sizes
Explanation:
Equal-width divides range into uniform intervals.
64. What is Mahalanobis distance for outliers?
Correct Answer: a) Accounts for covariance
Explanation:
It measures distance considering variable correlations.
65. What is hot-deck imputation?
Correct Answer: a) Random similar donor value
Explanation:
Hot-deck selects from observed values in similar cases.
66. What is cold-deck imputation?
Correct Answer: a) External donor values
Explanation:
Cold-deck uses values from another dataset or time.
67. What is feature engineering in preprocessing?
Correct Answer: a) Creating new features
Explanation:
It derives informative variables from raw data.
68. What is log transformation used for?
Correct Answer: a) Handling skewness
Explanation:
Log reduces right-skewness in positive data.
69. What is Box-Cox transformation?
Correct Answer: a) Stabilizes variance
Explanation:
It finds optimal power to make data more normal.
70. What is data profiling?
Correct Answer: a) Summarizing data characteristics
Explanation:
Profiling assesses quality, structure, and content.
71. What is schema matching?
Correct Answer: a) Aligning attributes across sources
Explanation:
It resolves differences in data schemas during integration.
72. What is equal-frequency discretization?
Correct Answer: a) Equal counts per bin
Explanation:
Quantile binning ensures similar sample sizes in bins.
73. What is Isolation Forest for outliers?
Correct Answer: a) Anomaly isolation via trees
Explanation:
It isolates outliers faster than normal points.
74. What is multiple imputation?
Correct Answer: a) Creates several filled datasets
Explanation:
It accounts for uncertainty by averaging multiple imputations.
75. What is polynomial feature generation?
Correct Answer: a) Higher-order interactions
Explanation:
It creates features like x^2 or x*y for non-linearity.
76. What is Yeo-Johnson transformation?
Correct Answer: a) For negative values too
Explanation:
Extension of Box-Cox handling negative and zero values.
77. What is data validation in cleaning?
Correct Answer: a) Ensuring accuracy and consistency
Explanation:
Validation checks rules like range or format compliance.
78. What is record linkage?
Correct Answer: a) Matching across datasets
Explanation:
It links records referring to the same entity.
79. What is unsupervised discretization?
Correct Answer: a) No class labels used
Explanation:
Methods like equal-width don't rely on target variables.
80. What is Local Outlier Factor (LOF)?
Correct Answer: a) Density-based outlier score
Explanation:
LOF compares local density to neighbors.
81. What is MICE imputation?
Correct Answer: a) Multiple Imputation by Chained Equations
Explanation:
Iterative regression for each variable with missings.
82. What is interaction feature?
Correct Answer: a) Product of two features
Explanation:
Captures combined effects, like age * income.
83. What is quantile transformation?
Correct Answer: a) Maps to uniform distribution
Explanation:
It ranks data and maps to a uniform or normal dist.
84. What is data auditing?
Correct Answer: a) Systematic quality review
Explanation:
Auditing identifies patterns of errors or anomalies.
85. What is object consolidation?
Correct Answer: a) Merging duplicate entities
Explanation:
Part of integration resolving duplicates across sources.
86. What is clustering-based discretization?
Correct Answer: a) Groups similar values
Explanation:
Uses clustering to form natural bins.
87. What is DBSCAN for outliers?
Correct Answer: a) Density-based clustering flags noise
Explanation:
Points not in clusters are outliers in DBSCAN.
88. What is Kalman filter imputation?
Correct Answer: a) For time series states
Explanation:
Predicts missing values using state-space models.
89. What is lagged feature?
Correct Answer: a) Previous time step value
Explanation:
Used in time series for autoregressive features.
90. What is power transformation?
Correct Answer: a) General family for normality
Explanation:
Includes Box-Cox and Yeo-Johnson for stabilizing variance.
91. What is referential integrity check?
Correct Answer: a) Valid foreign keys
Explanation:
Ensures links between tables are valid.
92. What is data deduplication?
Correct Answer: a) Removing exact duplicates
Explanation:
Identifies and eliminates identical records.
93. What is entropy-based binning?
Correct Answer: a) Minimizes intra-bin impurity
Explanation:
Uses information entropy for supervised discretization.
94. What is one-class SVM for outliers?
Correct Answer: a) Learns normal boundary
Explanation:
Flags points outside the learned normal region.
95. What is EM algorithm for imputation?
Correct Answer: a) Expectation-Maximization
Explanation:
Iteratively estimates parameters and missings.
96. What is rolling window feature?
Correct Answer: a) Moving statistics
Explanation:
Computes aggregates over time windows.
97. What is arcsinh transformation?
Correct Answer: a) For heavy-tailed data
Explanation:
Hyperbolic inverse sine handles extremes like log.
98. What is domain validation?
Correct Answer: a) Business rule checks
Explanation:
Ensures data fits domain-specific logic.
99. What is survivorship bias in cleaning?
Correct Answer: a) Ignoring failed entities
Explanation:
Clean by including all historical data.
100. What is k-bins discretization?
Correct Answer: a) Optimal bins via dynamic programming
Explanation:
Minimizes error with k bins.
101. What is elliptic envelope for outliers?
Correct Answer: a) Gaussian mixture based
Explanation:
Fits minimum covariance determinant.
102. What is random forest imputation?
Correct Answer: a) Tree-based predictions
Explanation:
Uses forests to predict missings from features.
103. What is Fourier transform feature?
Correct Answer: a) Frequency domain for time series
Explanation:
Extracts periodic components.
104. What is square root transformation?
Correct Answer: a) For count data skewness
Explanation:
Reduces variance in Poisson-like data.
105. What is completeness check?
Correct Answer: a) No missing required fields
Explanation:
Verifies all mandatory data is present.
106. What is selection bias in data cleaning?
Correct Answer: a) Non-random sampling
Explanation:
Address by understanding sampling method.
107. What is CAIM discretization?
Correct Answer: a) Class-Attribute Interdependence Maximization
Explanation:
Supervised method maximizing dependency.
108. What is COPOD for outliers?
Correct Answer: a) Copula-based
Explanation:
Unsupervised using copulas for dependence.
109. What is Bayesian imputation?
Correct Answer: a) Probabilistic filling
Explanation:
Incorporates prior distributions for estimates.
110. What is wavelet transform feature?
Correct Answer: a) Multi-resolution analysis
Explanation:
Decomposes signals into time-frequency components.
111. What is reciprocal transformation?
Correct Answer: a) 1/x for left-skew
Explanation:
Inverts values to handle negative skew.
112. What is uniqueness check?
Correct Answer: a) No unintended duplicates
Explanation:
Ensures primary keys are unique.
113. What is temporal bias in cleaning?
Correct Answer: a) Time-period specific data
Explanation:
Balance data across periods.
114. What is MDLP discretization?
Correct Answer: a) Minimum Description Length Principle
Explanation:
Supervised stopping criterion for binning.
115. What is KNN for outliers?
Correct Answer: a) Distance to neighbors
Explanation:
High distance indicates isolation.
116. What is matrix factorization imputation?
Correct Answer: a) Low-rank approximation
Explanation:
Fills sparse matrices like in recommender systems.
117. What is embedding feature for text?
Correct Answer: a) Dense vector representations
Explanation:
Word2Vec or BERT captures semantic meaning.
118. What is cube root transformation?
Correct Answer: a) Milder than log for skewness
Explanation:
x^(1/3) for moderate right-skew.
119. What is timeliness check?
Correct Answer: a) Data currency
Explanation:
Verifies data is up-to-date.
120. What is confirmation bias in cleaning?
Correct Answer: a) Retaining supporting data
Explanation:
Avoid by objective criteria.
121. What is FUSINTER discretization?
Correct Answer: a) Fuzzy unsupervised
Explanation:
Handles overlapping bins with fuzziness.
122. What is angle-based outlier detection?
Correct Answer: a) ABOD using angles
Explanation:
Efficient for high dimensions via angles.
123. What is deep learning imputation?
Correct Answer: a) Autoencoder-based
Explanation:
Learns latent representations for filling.
124. What is PCA feature for images?
Correct Answer: a) Eigenfaces
Explanation:
Reduces dimensionality in face recognition.
125. What is exponential transformation?
Correct Answer: a) For left-skew to right
Explanation:
e^x stretches lower values.
126. What is accuracy check?
Correct Answer: a) Matches reality
Explanation:
Verifies data correctness against sources.
127. What is spatial bias in data?
Correct Answer: a) Geographic imbalance
Explanation:
Clean by sampling across regions.














