Two Discussions

Running Head: ELEMENTS OF CRITICAL THINKING 1

Week 5. Elements of Critical Thinking

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Steven Sellers posted Nov 3, 2020 5:38 AM

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The basic principal behind critical thinking is that it is a skill (Peg 2011, p. 4). A skill that in some may come naturally, but to most is a skill that is learned through practice...and in my experience...through some failures along the way. 

According to Paul (1991) there are many micro and macro skills cognitive strategies that make up the elements of critical thought.  Some of the micro skills mentioned are: comparing and contrasting ideals with actual practice, using critical vocabulary, examining or evaluating assumptions, and exploring implications and consequences.  I have picked these out of the nine mentioned because these are the ones I use most often and use in my day to day at work. Often in the leadership roles I have been in throughout the years, critical thinking skills have come in handy. It seems to be split between making logistics type decisions or through personnel actions. When it has come to logistical decisions, the experience I have had plays into the comparing and contrasting ideals with actual practice. I have seen what has worked in the past, what has not, and what could be improved; all of that weighs heavily into the critical thinking process for me.  Using critical vocabulary for me helps to refine what the problem is, what I am trying to convey to other stakeholders, and helping to truly define the answer/outcome. Being able to examine and evaluate assumptions has helped to understand others viewpoints. It also helps when problem solving what the in-place support already is.  Exploring implications and consequences goes hand in hand with experience. Being able to solve the first, second, and third order effects of actions helps to form more long-term solutions and for me helps to prevent the "band-aid" method of problem solving. 

Peg Tittle. (2011). Critical Thinking : An Appeal to Reason. Routledge.

Evaluate Elements of Critical Thinking/Jan Campbell

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Jan Campbell posted Oct 25, 2020 3:24 PM

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Explain and evaluate the different elements of critical thinking.  

Critical thinking in its basic form is “thinking about thinking.” Critical thinking had its earliest form with Socrates and his probing methodology of questioning one’s claim to knowledge. “Socrates Questioning” stressed that thinking for clarity and logical consistency was crucial at revealing the truth.

            Throughout the ages we saw the development and maturity of critical thinking through other Greek philosophers like Aristotle, Plato and others later in history like Aquino, Bacon, Descartes, Moore, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Boyle, Newton, Voltaire and Smith to name just few.

            When thinking critically it is important to be clear in thought and rationality. There is a reflective and independent component as well in the thought process. When thinking critically understanding connections between ideas in a logical manner. One needs to identify, evaluate construct arguments as part of the critical thought process looking for inconsistences and mistakes in the reasoning of the argument being presented, whether it is from someone else or yourself. Critical thinking allows us to address and resolve problems in a systematic way. Further, evaluation of the relevance and importance of ideas put forth need to be considered as well.

The elements of critical thinking can be summarized as follows: keeping in mind that within these elements there are skills and knowledge that must be obtained or aware of.

1. Purpose: goal or objective

2. Question or Issue: problem or Issue

3. Information: data, facts, observations, experiences

4. Interpretation and Inference: conclusions, solutions

5. Concepts: theories, definitions, axioms, laws, principles, models

6. Assumptions: presuppositions, taking things for granted

7. Implication and Consequences

8. Point of View: Frame of reference, perspective, values, orientation

 

Which elements would you use in conducting research and why?  Use examples to support your position.

Research is about inquiry, asking questions and developing answers through critical thinking and thoughtful reflection. A researcher seeks information from a variety of resources and must be cognitive of all information gathered and in doing so uses inquiry.

In research, we are constantly revisiting our ideas, seeking new information and often as a result we refine the research question, the topic or even the approach. In this manner is always a process of reflection.

            If I am researching a way to improve communication within a company, I might look at similar companies that are successful. I might do a historical review of the literature to gain better insight to my research question. I would use critical thinking by considering the purpose of my research, this could lead to my plan of attack.

Because research is about critical inquiry, it follows that I am interested in asking questions and seeking answers to the problem. It would be expected even though I developed research questions through a literature review, as I research more I should see my questions evolve as I gain more knowledge. A clearer more defined research question should lead to more review of the literature that is better focused.

As we have seen through our review of critical thinking, the information we gather from sources such a research paper not only needs to be reputable, but the purpose of that research. What was the author trying to gain and was there any bias in that research, this allows us to better understand if that data being used is a reliable source.  

Knowing what we know about critical thinking I would need to be very careful about any inferences or conclusions I come to.

Using critical thinking I would need to look at multiple points of view and look at other whys of interpreting the data.  

Any conclusions I make or conclusions from other authors would need to be checked for assumptions they made and were they logical?

Finally, I would have to consider any implications of the argument. If I were to accept this what consequence would that have? What impact would that have?

 

Offer any personal experiences that you have in this regard.

In one research project I was involved in, I started out trying to find out why a company A had been a fortune 500 company for almost 40 years and within just a few short years was being broken up into several other companies. As I interviewed leaders and looked at internal documents, research questions emerged from the qualitative interviews, which led to the development of questionnaires to understand causality. I was constantly aware of my bias and to make sure, I reviewed the findings with my peers. I did reveal some bias no matter how much I tried to remain objective. Finally, after several revisions of the data, I was able to reduce the bias enough that the study and its implications were considered valid.