Universities Students' Knowledge About Big Data Analysis

Introduction: Big data analysis has raised controversies today and attracted many students and academics for its dramatic advantages. The present research aims to investigate the extent to which students in different universities of Mashhad are familiar with this type of analysis.Material and Methods: The present cross-sectional research was conducted on university students of different fields of study in Mashhad, Iran. A questionnaire was developed based on a review of the related literature in PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct and EMBAS. The target questionnaire explored students' knowledge of big data analysis. To this aim, 142 students participated in this research and completed the target questionnaire. Their responses were analyzed descriptively.Results: The majority age of participants ranged between 21 and 28 years. 59% of these participants were female; 27% had less than a year of work experience; the academic grade of the majority of participants was Master's or Ph.D. 42% enjoyed a desirable knowledge of big data analysis. The largest number of hours of scientific and non-scientific studies belonged to basic science students and more specifically that of pharmacology.Conclusion: Despite the significance and benefits of big data analysis, students' unfamiliarity with the essentiality of these analyses in industries and research is considerable. It seems that the field or grade of studies has no effect on one's knowledge of big data analysis. Probably, the design of specialized educational courses with this concern can help to promote individuals' knowledge of big data analysis.