Narrow a confidence interval for a mean

Quick Overview

This question evaluates understanding of confidence intervals, the relationship between sample size and interval width, variance-reduction techniques, the impact of changing confidence levels, and the ability to communicate statistical risk and design-based trade-offs.

Narrow a confidence interval for a mean

Company: Google

Role: Data Scientist

Category: Statistics & Math

Difficulty: medium

Interview Round: Technical Screen

You have a simple random sample with n = 100 and sample mean 100. The current 95% CI for the population mean is 100 ± 10, which a PM says is too wide. a) If you increase n to 10,000 and the sample standard deviation s is unchanged, compute the new 95% CI half‑width exactly and explain the 1/√n scaling. b) Without increasing n, list and justify at least four specific levers to narrow the CI (e.g., change confidence level α, reduce variance via paired designs/blocking/stratification, reduce measurement noise, transform the outcome), and explain trade‑offs/risks for each. c) Under what assumptions is tightening the CI by raising α misleading, and how would you communicate that risk to non‑statisticians?

Quick Answer: This question evaluates understanding of confidence intervals, the relationship between sample size and interval width, variance-reduction techniques, the impact of changing confidence levels, and the ability to communicate statistical risk and design-based trade-offs.

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Oct 13, 2025, 9:49 PM
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You have a simple random sample with n = 100 and sample mean 100. The current 95% CI for the population mean is 100 ± 10, which a PM says is too wide. a) If you increase n to 10,000 and the sample standard deviation s is unchanged, compute the new 95% CI half‑width exactly and explain the 1/√n scaling. b) Without increasing n, list and justify at least four specific levers to narrow the CI (e.g., change confidence level α, reduce variance via paired designs/blocking/stratification, reduce measurement noise, transform the outcome), and explain trade‑offs/risks for each. c) Under what assumptions is tightening the CI by raising α misleading, and how would you communicate that risk to non‑statisticians?

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