DA0-002 Visualization and Reporting Practice Question
A marketing team conducted a customer satisfaction survey for five different departments (Sales, Support, Billing, Shipping, Returns). The survey asked customers to rate their satisfaction on a scale of 1 (Very Dissatisfied) to 5 (Very Satisfied). The data is ordinal and the team wants to visualize the distribution of responses for each department to quickly see which department has the most 'Very Satisfied' customers and which has the most 'Very Dissatisfied'. They also want to compare the spread of responses across departments. Which chart type should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
DA0-002 often tests whether candidates choose a visualization that preserves the full distribution of ordinal data rather than one that reduces it to a summary statistic like the mean or median.
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
✓
Stacked bar chart with departments on x-axis and counts of each rating stacked
A stacked bar chart with departments on the x-axis and counts of each rating stacked shows the full distribution of ordinal responses per department, making it easy to compare which department has the most 'Very Satisfied' (top stack) and 'Very Dissatisfied' (bottom stack) responses. It also allows visual comparison of the spread across departments by comparing stack heights and segment proportions.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Stacked bar chart with departments on x-axis and counts of each rating stacked
Why this is correct
Stacked bars place departments on the x-axis with rating counts stacked, so each department's proportion of Very Satisfied and Very Dissatisfied is directly comparable. Stacking preserves the ordinal categories while showing spread across departments, satisfying both stem requirements.
- ✗
Line chart with departments on x-axis and average rating on y-axis
Why it's wrong here
Plotting only the average rating per department discards the distribution, hiding how many customers chose 'Very Satisfied' or 'Very Dissatisfied' and concealing spread. It is tempting because it compares departments at a glance, and it would be correct for tracking a single trend over time rather than showing response distribution.
- ✗
Box plot for each department
Why it's wrong here
A box plot summarises median, quartiles and outliers, collapsing the five ordinal categories into a continuous scale, so counts of 'Very Satisfied' and 'Very Dissatisfied' respondents are lost. It is tempting because it compares spread across groups, and it would be correct for continuous interval data rather than discrete Likert counts.
- ✗
Scatter plot with department as category and satisfaction score as value
Why it's wrong here
A scatter plot places each response as a point against two numeric axes, so it cannot show counts of respondents per satisfaction level per department. It is tempting because it displays spread and clustering, and it would be correct for examining correlation between two continuous variables rather than the distribution of ordinal survey responses.
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Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
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