64th ISI World Statistics Congress - Ottawa, Canada

64th ISI World Statistics Congress - Ottawa, Canada

Predictors and Measurement of Data Literacy in Nonmajors

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent nonmajor students acquire data literacy skills during an introductory quantitative methods course. A sample of 173 undergraduate students from a large Canadian university studying business, communication, health science, linguistics, political science, psychology, or sociology participated in the present study. Using a momentary ecological assessment design, students completed a pre-semester questionnaire measuring their baseline data literacy, motivation, anxiety, stress, and personality characteristics. Each week during the term (n = 12 weeks) students were prompted via mobile application (LifeDataApp) to complete a series of short questions about their motivation, anxiety, and understanding of course content that week. At the end of the term, they repeated the pre-semester questionnaire. A series of exploratory longitudinal analyses were conducted to examine changes in data literacy scores, while controlling for pre-semester characteristics and students’ weekly reports. Overall, the results suggested that minimal data literacy skills are acquired during an introductory quantitative methods course and that statistical and data anxiety play a significant role in the way students experience these courses. The results will be discussed in terms of the role of anxiety in quantitative methods instruction, challenges in measuring and promoting data literacy, and future directions and considerations for data literacy education.