DA0-002 Data Acquisition and Preparation Practice Question
A data analyst is building a dataset from multiple sources and needs to ensure data quality. During the data acquisition phase, which activity is most important to perform?
⚠ Common exam trap
CompTIA often tests the distinction between data profiling (discovery/assessment) and data cleaning (correction), leading candidates to mistakenly choose cleaning as the first step during acquisition when profiling must come first to identify what needs cleaning.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Data profiling
Data profiling is the most important activity during the data acquisition phase because it involves examining source data to understand its structure, content, and quality issues before integration. This step identifies missing values, data types, duplicates, and inconsistencies early, preventing downstream errors in analysis. Without profiling, subsequent cleaning and modeling may be based on flawed assumptions about the data.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Data visualization
Why it's wrong here
Visualization is for analysis, not data acquisition.
- ✗
Data cleaning
Why it's wrong here
Cleaning is important but comes after profiling.
- ✓
Data profiling
Why this is correct
Profiling assesses data quality and structure before further processing.
- ✗
Data modeling
Why it's wrong here
Modeling is part of analysis, not acquisition.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This DA0-002 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the DA0-002 exam.