This dataset contains the replication data for a scoping review looks at metacognition (thinking about thinking) and the extent to which cognitive processes are available to conscious awareness and/or control. PsychInfo (Ovid), Scopus, and ProQuest databases were searched for articles published since 2016. 7885 articles were identified; 62 papers were included in the final review, including 108 studies. Findings indicate that, while people are rarely completely unaware of how they make decisions and judgements, this understanding can exist outside of conscious awareness or can be inaccurate or incomplete due to their misunderstanding of memory and other cognitive processes. Since refugee status adjudicators often rely on the assumption that people understand and can explain their own mental processes (Evans Cameron et al., 2024a), this review's findings add further urgency to the call to bring psychology research evidence to bear on this aspect of refugee status decision-making (Herlihy et al., 2023).