diff --git a/changelog.txt b/changelog.txt
index 4a67a2c7f..1df51ac16 100644
--- a/changelog.txt
+++ b/changelog.txt
@@ -17,6 +17,15 @@ Highlights
  - Support for compressed Collection files.
 
 
+Next
+----
+
+Added
++++++
+
+ - Add function to initialize a sample data space for testing purposes
+
+
 [1.2.0] -- 2019-07-22
 ---------------------
 
diff --git a/signac/__init__.py b/signac/__init__.py
index a406f0cd1..ae65a6fb7 100644
--- a/signac/__init__.py
+++ b/signac/__init__.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 from . import errors
 from . import warnings
 from . import sync
+from . import testing
 from .contrib import Project
 from .contrib import TemporaryProject
 from .contrib import get_project
@@ -61,4 +62,5 @@
            'buffered', 'is_buffered', 'flush', 'get_buffer_size', 'get_buffer_load',
            'JSONDict',
            'H5Store', 'H5StoreManager',
+           'testing',
            ]
diff --git a/signac/testing.py b/signac/testing.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ae313bc05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/signac/testing.py
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2019 The Regents of the University of Michigan
+# All rights reserved.
+# This software is licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License.
+"""Functions for initializing workspaces for testing purposes."""
+from itertools import cycle
+
+
+def init_jobs(project, nested=False, listed=False, heterogeneous=False):
+    """Initialize a dataspace for testing purposes
+
+    :param project:
+        The project to add the jobs to
+    :type project:
+        :py:class:`~.project.Project`
+    :param nested:
+        If True, included nested state points
+    :type nested:
+        bool
+    :param listed:
+        If True, include lists as values of state point parameters
+    :type listed:
+        bool
+    :param heterogeneous:
+        If True, include heterogeneous state point parameters
+    :type heterogeneous:
+        bool
+    :returns:
+        A list containing the initialized jobs
+    :rtype:
+        list of :py:class:`~.Job`
+    """
+    jobs_init = []
+    vals = [1, 1.0, '1', False, True, None]
+    if nested:
+        vals += [{'b': v, 'c': 0} if heterogeneous else {'b': v} for v in vals]
+    if listed:
+        vals += [[v, 0] if heterogeneous else [v] for v in vals]
+    if heterogeneous:
+        for k, v in zip(cycle('ab'), vals):
+            jobs_init.append(project.open_job({k: v}).init())
+    else:
+        for v in vals:
+            jobs_init.append(project.open_job(dict(a=v)).init())
+    return jobs_init
diff --git a/tests/test_project.py b/tests/test_project.py
index 21f89c655..0b51b7d53 100644
--- a/tests/test_project.py
+++ b/tests/test_project.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import uuid
 import warnings
 import logging
+import itertools
 import json
 import pickle
 from tarfile import TarFile
@@ -1982,5 +1983,19 @@ def test_pickle_jobs_directly(self):
             self.assertEqual(pickle.loads(pickle.dumps(job)), job)
 
 
+class TestTestingProjectInitialization(BaseProjectTest):
+
+    # Sanity check on all different combinations of inputs
+    def test_input_args(self):
+        for nested, listed, het in itertools.product([True, False], repeat=3):
+            with self.project.temporary_project() as tmp_project:
+                jobs = signac.testing.init_jobs(
+                    tmp_project, nested=nested, listed=listed, heterogeneous=het)
+                self.assertGreater(len(tmp_project), 0)
+                self.assertEqual(len(tmp_project), len(jobs))
+                # check that call does not fail:
+                tmp_project.detect_schema()
+
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()