Data Literacy

Data literacy is the ability to read, question and act on data: knowing how a metric is defined, what its sample can support, and what a number does not prove.

Data literacy does not start with knowing metric names; it starts with three questions: what exactly does this number count, what are its denominator and range, and what alternative explanation fits the same change. Inside an organisation it is more a matter of infrastructure than individual training: a data dictionary, consistent event naming and one official definition per metric move the discussion from what the number means to what to do. Its absence usually shows up as overconfidence rather than silence, in firm conclusions drawn from a few percentage points on a small sample, or a causal story read off a correlation chart.