This data set contains the replication data and supplements for the article "Is information literacy ability, and metacognition of that ability, related to interest, gender or education level? A cross-sectional study of higher education students". The data was collected as part of the contact author's PhD research on information literacy (IL).

The following files are included in this data set: 1. A 21-item information literacy test for assessing students' knowledge of three aspects of IL: evaluating sources, using sources, and seeking information. The test is multiple choice, with four alternative answers for each item, and the correct answer is indicated. The English and Norwegian versions of the test are included in this file. 2. A data file with survey results from 760 Norwegian and international students at three levels of higher education: bachelor, master's and PhD. The data was collected in Qualtrics from fall 2019 to fall 2020. 3. A README file which explains the data file. 4. Supplement 1 contains supplementary descriptive statistics and analyses regarding students' estimated test scores. 5. Supplement 2 contains supplementary descriptive statistics for survey questions regarding students' interest in being/becoming information literate, their need for more skills in IL, and the effort they are willing to put into developing stronger IL skills. 6. Survey questions related to interest - specifically students' interest in being or becoming information literate - in 3 parts (all in English and Norwegian): a) information and questions about the 4 phases of interest; b) interest questionnaire with 26 items in 7 subscales (TRIQ); c) Survey questions about IL and interest, need, and intent. 7. The project's data management plan, sent to Norwegian Centre for Research Data (in Norwegian). 8. Norwegian Centre for Research Data's approval of the Data Management Plan (in Norwegian). 9. Consent form for participants in Norway (in Norwegian).

IBM SPSS Statistics, 26 (2019)