Teaching by Example: Evidence of Data Literacy Competencies and Practices in Top Economics Journal Articles

Abstract

Objective: Data literacy is the ability to describe, evaluate, use, share, and cite data. It is increasingly important for researchers and college students, including in the field of economics. This study explores the prevalence of data literacy competencies in economics articles. Data literacy competencies displayed in journal articles demonstrate what researchers value and provide opportunities to teach students, helping librarians shape data services and instruction.Methods: Based on close reading of economics and data literacy literature, the author developed a protocol of terms relating to data literacy. A stratified random sample of 100 articles was selected from ten top economics journals. Adobe Acrobat’s index search function was used to conduct automated content analysis coding, with additional manual checking for accuracy and data sharing and sources.Results: The economics research articles in the study sample showed strong coverage of terms relating to describing, evaluating, and using data. Sharing and citing data were identified as areas for improvement as only 36% of articles shared data and 40% included terms related to citation. The analysis verifies previous research about the prevalence of commercial data use in business research and adds insight on frequently used open data sources. Conclusions: There are clear data literacy strengths within economics. Librarians have the skills to partner with economics instructors to reinforce strengths and improve gaps to prepare more data literate students.