Module 3 Challenge (Project Execution: Running the Project) Answers 2025

Question 1

Fill in the blank: _____ is a collection of facts or information.

A. Data ✅
B. Artifacts
C. Statistics
D. Resources

🔹 Explanation: Data are facts or information collected for reference or analysis.

Question 2

In which of the following categories can project managers group metrics? (Select all that apply.)

A. Productivity metrics ✅
B. Reliability metrics
C. Documentation metrics
D. Quality metrics ✅

🔹 Explanation: Metrics are typically grouped by productivity and quality. (Coursera does not count Reliability here.)

Question 3

You are managing a conference and note the number of attendees increases by 200. What type of metric do you record this as?

A. Milestone ✅
B. Changelog
C. Projection
D. Issue

🔹 Explanation: A milestone marks a key achievement or notable point in the project, such as increased attendance.

Question 4

What tactics can project managers use to prioritize data? (Select all that apply.)

A. Set hard deadlines
B. Prioritize tasks that contribute most to the project goal ✅
C. Identify and respond to signals ✅
D. Align metrics to stakeholder priorities ✅

🔹 Explanation: These tactics ensure focus on high-impact, stakeholder-aligned data. (Do not select hard deadlines.)

Question 5

Fill in the blank: _____ data are qualities or things that you can’t measure with numerical data.

A. Quantitative
B. Qualitative ✅
C. Client
D. Objective

🔹 Explanation: Qualitative data describe non-numerical characteristics, opinions, or experiences.

Question 6

As a project manager, you schedule a meeting with a co-worker to practice a presentation for stakeholders. Which step of the storytelling process are you implementing?

A. Communication
B. Defining your audience
C. Choosing a visual representation
D. Gathering feedback ✅

🔹 Explanation: Practicing with someone before presenting lets you gather feedback to improve delivery.

Question 7

In data visualization, what is a type of user interface that provides a snapshot view of a project’s progress or performance?

A. Dashboard ✅
B. Charts
C. KPI
D. Maps

🔹 Explanation: A dashboard visually shows project progress and KPIs in one place.

Question 8

You review your presentation slides and remove any content that dilutes your message. What presentation goal are you trying to achieve?

A. Being effective
B. Being precise ✅
C. Being flexible
D. Being memorable

🔹 Explanation: Removing extra content sharpens your message and increases clarity.

Question 9

As a project manager, you are ensuring all team members are made aware of your organization’s data security and privacy protocols. Which data analysis best practice does this represent?

A. Anonymizing data
B. Increasing privacy awareness ✅
C. Using security tools
D. Sampling bias

🔹 Explanation: Training the team on privacy protocols raises awareness and improves compliance.

Question 10

As a project manager analyzing data, you ensure the data is accurate by removing duplicate responses and inconsistencies, and confirm the data contains no typos or errors. Which data analysis best practice does this represent?

A. Process
B. Ask
C. Analyze
D. Prepare ✅

🔹 Explanation: The “Prepare” step is about cleaning and organizing data before analysis.

Question 11

As a project manager creating a story, you ask yourself questions like: “Does this presentation make sense?”, “Is the presentation interesting?”, and “Which areas of the story are unclear or unmemorable?”. In what storytelling step should you ask these questions?

A. Gather the feedback ✅
B. Define the audience
C. Filter and analyze the data
D. Find the data

🔹 Explanation: These reflection questions are part of gathering feedback to improve the story.

Question 12

You are preparing a data presentation. To explain your data, you need to compare trends and display changes in the data over a set period of time. Which data visualization tool should you use?

A. Line graph ✅
B. Bar graph
C. Scatter plot
D. Pie chart

🔹 Explanation: Line graphs show trends and changes over time more effectively than other charts.

✅ Summary of Correct Answers

Data
Productivity metrics; Quality metrics
Milestone
Prioritize tasks; Identify/respond to signals; Align to stakeholder priorities
Qualitative
Gathering feedback
Dashboard
Being precise
Increasing privacy awareness
Prepare
Gather the feedback
Line graph

Attempt 2:

Question 1

From the project manager perspective, which of the following are benefits of using data? (Select all that apply.)

Increase the project timeline
Improve processes ✅
Make better decisions ✅
Understand your users ✅

🔹 Explanation: Data helps PMs improve processes, make informed decisions, and understand users — not increase timelines.

Question 2

Which of the following are examples of productivity metrics? (Select all that apply.)

Issues
Milestones ✅
Projections
Durations ✅

🔹 Explanation: Productivity metrics track actual work progress and output. Coursera counts milestones and durations, not issues or projections.

Question 3

Fill in the blank: _____ is when the project manager determines how long it will take to complete a project based on resources available.

Projection
Prediction
Brainstorming
Planning ✅

🔹 Explanation: Planning is the process of determining how long it will take to complete a project with available resources.

Question 4

Project key stakeholders have concerns about meeting deadlines. Which of the following metrics do you need to focus on in order to prioritize the proper tasks? (Select all that apply.)

Performance
Time ✅
Charts
Scope ✅

🔹 Explanation: Coursera expects Time and Scope as the key metrics to focus on for meeting deadlines.

Question 5

As a project manager, you are tasked with increasing the number of users for your phone application. The first step you take is to review the number of monthly users from last year. What type of data do you review in this step?

Mathematical
Qualitative
Quantitative ✅
Subjective

🔹 Explanation: Monthly user counts are numerical data, which is quantitative.

Question 6

Fill in the blank: _____ is the process of turning facts into a narrative to communicate something to your audience.

Statistics
Storytelling ✅
Data analysis
Communication

🔹 Explanation: Storytelling uses facts and data to create a narrative.

Question 7

What describes an item that contains visuals and summaries to present information quickly and clearly?

Line charts
KPI
Burndown charts
Infographics ✅

🔹 Explanation: Infographics combine visuals and text to communicate information clearly and quickly.

Question 8

The general design of a presentation slide follows the idea that a viewer should be able to understand the slide in how many seconds?

Two
One
Five ✅
Ten

🔹 Explanation: The “5-second rule” — a good slide should be clear within 5 seconds.

Question 9

As a project manager processing data, you consult with others to make sure you are not selecting and interpreting data in a way that supports your own pre-existing beliefs. This tactic helps avoid which data bias?

Observer bias
Confirmation bias ✅
Sampling bias
Interpretation bias

🔹 Explanation: Confirmation bias is when you only look for data that supports your existing views.

Question 10

As a project manager analyzing data, you create user surveys for your company to get more feedback on processes. Which data analysis best practice does this represent?

Prepare
Analyze
Ask
Process ✅

🔹 Explanation: Coursera expects “Process” as the best practice here — collecting and handling inputs from surveys.

Question 11

As a project manager creating a story, you ask yourself questions like: “Does the story answer the initial question and demonstrate the solution?”, “Is it original and does it offer a unique point of view?”, and “What is the compelling takeaway for the audience?” In what storytelling step should you ask these questions?

Filter and analyze the data
Find the data
Define the audience
Shape the story ✅

🔹 Explanation: These reflection questions are part of shaping the story — refining and finalizing the narrative.

Question 12

You are a project manager preparing a data presentation. To explain your data, you have created a scatter plot and notice a pattern emerging in the data. You draw a line to represent this. What is this line often referred to in a scatter plot?

Straight line
Bar line
Pattern line
Trend line ✅

🔹 Explanation: A trend line shows the general pattern or direction of data points in a scatter plot.

✅ Summary of Correct Answers

Improve processes; Make better decisions; Understand your users
Milestones; Durations
Planning
Time; Scope
Quantitative
Storytelling
Infographics
Five seconds
Confirmation bias
Process
Shape the story
Trend line

Attempt 3

Question 1

Fill in the blank: During your project, you monitor the timelines and efficiency of your team. You collect data on how many tasks they complete, their quality of work, and the time it takes to complete the tasks. All of these are examples of using data to _____.

reduce budget
solve problems
understand your users
understand performance ✅

🔹 Explanation: These data points measure how well the team is performing.

Question 2

What is an important point in a project schedule to indicate completion of a deliverable or a phase?

Projection
Cost variance
Issue
Milestone ✅

🔹 Explanation: Milestones mark key achievements or completion points.

Question 3

Which of the following are examples of quality metrics? (Select all that apply.)

Tasks
Issues ✅
Cost variance ✅
Number of changes ✅

🔹 Explanation: Issues, cost variance, and number of changes measure quality. Tasks alone are not a quality metric.

Question 4

What tactics can project managers use to prioritize data? (Select all that apply.)

Prioritize tasks that contribute most to the project goal ✅
Set hard deadlines
Align metrics to stakeholder priorities ✅
Identify and respond to signals ✅

🔹 Explanation: Focus on impact, stakeholder alignment, and signals — not just deadlines.

Question 5

Fill in the blank: _____ is the process of collecting and organizing information to help draw conclusions.

Documentation
Project management
Data analysis ✅
Risk analysis

🔹 Explanation: Data analysis collects and organizes information to draw conclusions.

Question 6

As a project manager creating a presentation, you are gathering information on the audience and key data points for the project. What stage of the storytelling process does this represent?

Filtering and analyzing the data
Gathering feedback
Collecting your data
Defining your audience ✅

🔹 Explanation: Before presenting, define your audience and their needs.

Question 7

Why should project managers use visual representations of data? (Select all that apply.)

To manipulate the data so the audience only reviews positive information
To filter information by directing the audience to the most important data points and insights ✅
To help the viewer make sense of and remember the information the project manager presents ✅
To summarize information and condense long ideas and facts into a single image or representation ✅

🔹 Explanation: Visuals clarify, highlight, and condense information — they’re not for manipulation.

Question 8

Which of the following are ways to help you give an effective presentation? (Select all that apply.)

Be forceful
Be memorable ✅
Be flexible ✅
Be precise ✅

🔹 Explanation: Memorable, flexible, and precise presentations engage your audience.

Question 9

As a project manager, you are ensuring all team members are made aware of your organization’s data security and privacy protocols. Which data analysis best practice does this represent?

Using security tools
Sampling bias
Increasing privacy awareness ✅
Anonymizing data

🔹 Explanation: Training and awareness is the privacy-awareness best practice.

Question 10

After your final presentation to the stakeholders, they decide to take the insights and put it into action. What data analysis does this represent?

Prepare
Act ✅
Analyze
Ask

🔹 Explanation: Acting is using insights to make decisions and changes.

Question 11

As a project manager creating a story, you ask yourself questions like: “Is the content credible and trustworthy?”, “Are there any data points that skew the information”, and “What content can I eliminate?”. In what storytelling step should you ask these questions?

Choose a visual representation
Filter and analyze the data ✅
Find the data
Define the audience

🔹 Explanation: These are part of filtering and analyzing to improve your story’s quality.

Question 12

You are preparing a data presentation. To explain your data, you need to compare trends and display changes in the data over a set period of time. Which data visualization tool should you use?

Pie chart
Scatter plot
Bar graph
Line graph ✅

🔹 Explanation: Line graphs best show trends over time.

✅ Summary of Correct Answers

Understand performance
Milestone
Issues; Cost variance; Number of changes
Prioritize tasks; Align to stakeholder priorities; Identify/respond to signals
Data analysis
Defining your audience
Filter information; Help viewer remember; Summarize information
Be memorable; Be flexible; Be precise
Increasing privacy awareness
Act
Filter and analyze the data
Line graph