Being data literate has taken on a whole new meaning with the influx of information you interact with daily. Data has such power and influence when it is applied effectively to address a public or behavioral health issue. This self-paced online training offers practical, easy-to-apply information so that you learn how to question and critique existing data, as well as identify, collect, and analyze data. The objective of this training is to help you bring public and behavioral health data to life so you can become a responsible data citizen, using data to create positive change in the communities where you work.

Learning Objectives

✓ Module 1: Getting the Concepts Down 

• Define key terms including “data”, “raw data”, and “data literacy”
• Explain why it is important for public and behavioral health professionals to be “data citizens”

✓ Module 2: The Land of Literature

• Distinguish between types of data (e.g., qualitative vs. quantitative; primary vs. secondary)
• Describe the different parts of a research study or article
• Reference the level of evidence and evidence-based registries to select effective interventions
• Describe descriptive statistics including mean, median, mode, range, percentages, and frequencies
• Recognize inferential statistics and qualitative data analysis methods

✓ Module 3: Becoming a Data Skeptic

• Describe how the methods used for data collection may impact the results
• Assess the credibility of a data source or study
• Assess potential areas of bias found within a data source or study
• Assess the “truth” of a study based on the manipulation of data and interpretation of results

✓ Module 4: Data, Data, Everywhere

• List key information that should be provided to an agency when requesting data.
• Describe considerations for determining whether or not to conduct primary data collection.
• Describe how Institutional Review Boards, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) provide safeguards for data collection.
• Describe key steps for conducting a community assessment that help ensure it is strategic.
• List data collection approaches when conducting a community assessment
• Describe how to use Microsoft Office or Google Workspace tools to store your data.

✓ Module 5: Working with Data

• Articulate the question they are trying to answer with their data analysis.
• Create a plan for data analysis
• Identify patterns or trends from the data
• Consider sample size, practical and statistical significance when drawing conclusions from data

✓ Module 6: Telling Your Data Story

• Create a dissemination plan for communicating data
• List three techniques that can be used for communicating data

✓ Module 7: Sustaining Your Data Knowledge

• Create a plan for continued personal professional development related to data literacy
• Identify ways to integrate data literacy into your organization or among your team or partners.

Length of Learning Opportunity

2.5 hours

Primary Competency

Public Health Sciences Skills

Development Partner(s)

Data State of Mind was created by the Colorado State Epidemiology Workgroup. The creation of this online training was funded by the Colorado Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Behavioral Health.

Enroll now: Data State of Mind