Flash Survey Results: Are Firms Providing Data Literacy Resources?
In addition to other responsibilities, one of the primary objectives of data science and analytics teams is to operationalize data science and analytics.Resistance from business unit stakeholders can present challenges to this goal, but some companies work to decrease this friction by bringing up the level of data literacy throughout the organization. The goal, when increasing data literacy for those outside the quantitative team, is to increase the comfort level and understanding of the complex insights that analytics professionals and data scientists provide.At Burtch Works we’d been hearing a lot about this trend, but much like our recent survey on the data translator role, we wanted to explore how prevalent this practice is.We asked our quantitative network whether their organization provides access to these resources, as well as what types of resources are available, and examined by company to determine how many firms are taking this type of approach.
1. Does your organization provide training or other resources to upskill, improve, or otherwise expand data literacy for professionals beyond the quantitative team?
We found that the majority of companies (72%) reported that they do provide some type of data literacy training or resources to professionals outside the quantitative team.
2. If yes, what types of resources or programs does your organization provide?
a. Lunch & learns or internal trainingb. Formal training from an outside firmc. Access to online or internal static resources (such as tips & tricks, knowledge base, FAQ, etc.)d. Designated liaison from the quantitative team for drop-in assistancee. Other (Please specify!)
Of those companies that responded in the affirmative, we found that the most popular type of training they provided was some type of “lunch and learn” or internal training (88%), followed by static resources like FAQs or a knowledge base, etc. (67%). Almost half of companies provided some type of internal liaison to answer questions within the organization, and a third of companies reported some type of outside training.When we examined the write-in responses for companies that reported “other” resources, we found that several mentioned some type of tuition or training cost assistance for outside education. Notably, one organization reported hiring a full-time program manager for this purpose, who will be tasked with building and launching a dedicated data literacy program with budget for external contractors.
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