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Calculate power and test duration

Last updated: Mar 29, 2026

Quick Overview

This question evaluates proficiency in statistical power analysis, sample size calculation for proportions, hypothesis testing for two-sided z-tests, and practical experiment duration estimation for A/B testing.

  • medium
  • DoorDash
  • Statistics & Math
  • Data Scientist

Calculate power and test duration

Company: DoorDash

Role: Data Scientist

Category: Statistics & Math

Difficulty: medium

Interview Round: Technical Screen

Assume baseline cold-food complaint rate is 3.50% and all such orders currently receive full refunds. The thermal-bag experiment targets a 10% relative reduction in complaint rate (to 3.15%). Using a two-sided z-test for two proportions with α=0.05 and power=0.80: (a) Compute the minimum sample size per arm for equal allocation; show formulas and numeric steps. (b) If only 60% of 200,000 daily orders are eligible and traffic is split 50/50, estimate the minimum test duration in days, assuming no seasonality. (c) Recompute (a) for a 6% relative reduction target. State all assumptions clearly and round final answers to the nearest 100 orders and 0.5 day.

Quick Answer: This question evaluates proficiency in statistical power analysis, sample size calculation for proportions, hypothesis testing for two-sided z-tests, and practical experiment duration estimation for A/B testing.

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DoorDash logo
DoorDash
Oct 13, 2025, 9:49 PM
Data Scientist
Technical Screen
Statistics & Math
4
0

A/B Test Sizing: Reducing Cold-Food Complaint Rate

You are running an A/B test of thermal delivery bags aiming to reduce the cold-food complaint rate. Baseline complaint rate is 3.50% and all such orders currently receive full refunds (this cost context motivates why even small deltas matter, though it doesn't change the stats math). The experiment targets a 10% relative reduction to 3.15%. Use a two-sided z-test for two proportions with α = 0.05 and power = 0.80.

Assume equal allocation between control and treatment and no seasonality.

Tasks:

(a) Compute the minimum sample size per arm for equal allocation to detect a 10% relative reduction (3.50% → 3.15%). Show formulas and numeric steps.

(b) If only 60% of 200,000 daily orders are eligible and traffic is split 50/50, estimate the minimum test duration in days.

(c) Recompute (a) for a 6% relative reduction target (3.50% → 3.29%).

Round final answers to the nearest 100 orders and 0.5 day, and state assumptions clearly.

Solution

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