Data and Code for: STCW-Aligned Knowledge and Authority Gradient in Naval Cadets: Testing the Competency Assumption

De-identified dataset and analysis code supporting the manuscript "STCW-Aligned Knowledge and Authority Gradient in Naval Cadets: Testing the Competency Assumption" (submitted to the Australian Journal of Maritime & Ocean Affairs). This study surveyed 70 third-year naval cadets (census sample), testing whether STCW-aligned Bridge Resource Management (BRM) knowledge predicts hierarchical deference (Authority Gradient). Contrary to the assumption underlying current certification design, a significant positive correlation was found (rs = 0.546, p < .0001): cadets who scored higher on the knowledge test showed a steeper, more restrictive Authority Gradient, not a flatter one. This deposit includes: the de-identified raw dataset (paper3_raw_data.csv), a codebook, the full research instruments (STCW-Aligned BRM Knowledge Test and CMAQ-Adapted Authority Gradient Scale, in English and Thai), content-validity (IOC) evidence, and a Python script reproducing every statistic reported in the manuscript.