The Data Analysis and Visualisation Research Definition Toolkit, adapted from NESTA’s Collective Intelligence Design Playbook (beta), is an OER developed for the Data Analysis and Visualisation for Social Scientists module (2025–26) at the University of Suffolk. Grounded in open educational practices, the toolkit is designed to support Level 6 students from the School of Business, Arts, Social Sciences and Technology in framing and designing research projects through a human-centred approach informed by epistemic data justice (Atenas et al., 2020, 2023, 2025). It foregrounds critical engagement with data, AI systems, and the sociotechnical infrastructures that shape them, equipping learners with the conceptual, ethical, and technical competencies required to interrogate data provenance, quality, representation, and power (Dencik et al., 2016; Dencik & Sanchez-Monedero, 2022).

Embedded within an intensive, collaborative learning design, the toolkit supports inquiry-based and rapid prototyping practices through data journalism methodologies, fostering collective experimentation to counter common anxieties around statistics, coding, and quantitative reasoning. Central to its design is the recognition that meaningful engagement with AI depends on robust data literacy; without the ability to critically examine how data are produced, categorised, and legitimised (D’Ignazio & Klein, 2020; Pangrazio et al., 2024). Drawing on feminist data studies and data justice scholarship, this toolkit positions students as critically empowered agents capable of evaluating the ethical, social, and political implications of data-driven research.