Turkish adaptation of data literacy skills scale for graduate students: Validity and reliability study

In today's digital world, large amounts of data are generated by users and systems every day. Data literacy is required to read, understand, process, analyze and use this data. Data literacy encompasses critical skills such as making informed decisions, recognizing the lack and manipulation of information, and assessing data reliability. Data literacy has become an important skill for individuals living in today's information society. The purpose of this study is to adapt the "Data Literacy Skills Scale" developed by Oguguo, Nannim, Okeke, Ezechukwu, Christopher, and Ugorji (2020) to measure data literacy skills of graduate students into Turkish. Quantitative research method was used in this study. "Data Literacy Skills Scale" developed by Oguguo et al. (2020) was used as a data collection tool. The Data Literacy Skills Scale consists of 22 statements and has four sub-dimensions: data collection and preparation, hypotheses and problem statement, data analysis and visualization/reporting and interpretation. First, linguistic equivalence studies were conducted to translate the scale from English to Turkish. After linguistic equivalence was achieved, data were collected and validity and reliability analyses were conducted. The study group consisted of 251 graduate students studying for master's or doctoral degrees at state universities. SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 22.0 statistical software were used to analyze the data. Explanatory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, item-total correlation, Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient were utilized in the validity and reliability studies of the scale. As a result of the analyses, it was seen that the Data Literacy Skills Scale adapted into Turkish is a valid and reliable instrument with 17 items and three sub-dimensions. As a result of the study, it was seen that the data literacy skills of graduate students were generally at a medium level, but the skills on data analysis were low. As a result of the study, recommendations were made to educators, institutions and students within the scope of society in general. Keywords: Data, Data literacy, Data literacy skills, Data analysis.