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WHAT IS CRITICAL THINKING?

This chapter covers the following key issues:

•		definitions and characteristics of critical thinking;
•		the relationship of the development of critical thinking to conceptions of knowledge;
•		the importance of critical thinking for health and social care professionals;
•		activities to help develop critical thinking skills.

By the end of this chapter you should be able to:

•		provide a definition of what critical thinking is;
•		discuss how critical thinking is developed through both academic and work-based learning;
•		reflect on the importance of critical thinking as a learning outcome for postgraduate students and, in particular, for health and social care students.

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1 has introduced you to the concept of Master’s level study, explored some of the key attributes of postgraduate study and encouraged you to consider some of the issues that postgraduate students face during their studies, particularly relating to delivery and assessment, and to your own personal development goals. This chapter will consider one of the key aims of postgraduate study – the ability to demonstrate critical thinking.

It is worth revisiting some of the broad learning outcomes of postgraduate study specified by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) from Chapter 1 (see Figure 1).

Master’s degrees are awarded to students who have demonstrated:

•		a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness of current problems and/or new insights, much of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of their academic discipline, field of study or area of professional practice;
•		a comprehensive understanding of techniques applicable to their own research or advanced scholarship;
•		originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in the discipline;
•		conceptual understanding that enables the student
	•	to evaluate critically current research and advanced scholarship in the discipline;
	•	to evaluate methodologies and develop critiques.

Figure 1. Descriptor for a higher education qualification at level 7 Master’s degree (source: QAA, 2008)

The descriptor in Figure 1 shows that Master’s level students need to demonstrate more than just comprehensive knowledge of the subject, although that is obviously a key element of gaining mastery of a subject. The terms ‘critical awareness’, ‘evaluate critically’ and ‘develop critiques’ in the QAA learning outcomes suggest the notion of ‘being critical’. It is important to review what is meant by this term.

Being critical

Being critical in everyday life may be associated with expressing adverse or disapproving comments on something. Often these criticisms may be fairly subjective and not based on strong evidence or have a clear rationale. In contrast, academic criticism needs to be objective, factual and considered. Your previous experiences as a student will have demonstrated the importance of being fair in your judgements and supporting arguments with available evidence in academic work. Being critical in academic work is not, therefore, the same as criticising in everyday life.

ACTIVITY

Write down what you think ‘being critical’ means in relation to academic work.

Some suggestions that you have written down might include phrases like:

•		not accepting things at face value;
•		evaluating;
•		making judgements;
•		exploring the implications of something;
•		making a comparison to other work.

Implicit in all of these phrases is an attempt to recognise the value or quality of something. This may be an idea, a concept, a product or a piece of writing, for example. Being critical in academic terms includes considering both negative and positive aspects. The notion of being critical is not, therefore, something to be undertaken in a superficial or ad hoc manner. A critical approach can only be achieved in a considered and systematic way, as it requires reviewing something in some depth and in the context of other work related to the topic or concept under scrutiny.

The ability to ‘be critical’ implies something that can apply to a one-off act or event – a skill that is demonstrated on a single occasion. However, developing mastery in a subject suggests the development and integration of skills and knowledge leading to new perspectives on how knowledge is viewed. In other words, it leads to a change in how we think – hence ‘critical thinking’. To start to ‘be critical’ is therefore just the start of becoming a critical thinker, which suggests an approach or disposition to think critically in all aspects of life. Daly (2001) has stated that ‘Most commentators agree that a repertoire of knowledge and discrete skills is of little use if it lies redundant or is used selectively’ (Daly, 2001, p. 121).

In other words, critical thinkers exhibit the habit of thinking critically as part of their intellectual repertoire. They are likely to demonstrate a spirit of enquiry and a questioning attitude in order to probe deeper into something to develop their own knowledge base and understanding.

WHAT IS CRITICAL THINKING?

There is a considerable body of literature on the concept of critical thinking and there is a wide range of definitions.There does not, however, appear to be one universally accepted definition of what the concept is, although within the literature some defining characteristics emerge.

The concept of critical thinking is widely acknowledged to have its origins in the historical work of John Dewey, an educationalist and psychologist who wrote his seminal work How We Think in 1910. Dewey described critical thinking as reflective thinking that is:

Active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusion to which it tends.

(Dewey, 1910, cited in McGregor, 2007)

We will return to the concept of reflection and its relationship to critical thinking at the end of this chapter, but it is worth analysing some of the key words in Dewey’s definition.

Active

The critical thinker is fully engaged in the process – the individual must personally consider the issues, question the underlying assumptions and scrutinise the evidence, as opposed to learning in a passive way by being told by someone else. Indeed, much of the literature on critical thinking is about challenging educators to adopt and develop innovative teaching methodologies to promote critical thinking skills in students.

ACTIVITY

Consider the ways in which the lecturers on your postgraduate course facilitate your learning to support your active engagement in the learning process – consider the teaching style, the educational approaches, methodologies and activities, and the assessment processes.

Persistent

This echoes Daly’s point, referred to earlier, that the skills of critical thinking are not used intermittently or selectively (Daly, 2001) but that they are integrated into all aspects of learning and become a way of engaging with the world.

There seems to be another implication in the use of the word ‘persistent’ that suggests the critical thinker does not give up the quest to find the right answer easily, but doggedly pursues a subject until satisfied that all possible questions have been answered.

Grounds that support it

This refers to the evidence base that must be subject to a healthy scepticism and carefully evaluated. This may include the need to utilise critical appraisal skills. Critical appraisal has been described as the process of carefully and systematically examining research to judge its trustworthiness, and its value and relevance in a particular context (Burls, 2009). A range of tools are available to support the process – the use of these will be discussed in Chapter 4 on ‘Finding and critiquing literature’.

The further conclusion

Critical thinking is therefore outcome-orientated in that, through reasoned thinking, a conclusion is pursued. However, it is important to be aware that the conclusion may not in itself provide an unequivocal answer to a question or a resolution to an issue. The conclusion may be an increased understanding of the issue and acceptance of ambiguity (Daly, 1998).

This latter point is well illustrated if we consider the example of a researcher undertaking a systematic review of the evidence of the effectiveness of a particular intervention or treatment. This process will include:

•		identifying all relevant published and unpublished evidence;
•		selecting the studies or reports by assessing their individual quality against specific inclusion criteria;
•		synthesising the findings from individual studies or reports in an unbiased way;
•		interpreting the findings and presenting a balanced and impartial summary of the findings with due consideration of any flaws in the evidence.

However, even though the critical process of reaching an objective conclusion has clearly been undertaken in a systematic way, it may be that there is inadequate evidence to extrapolate a definitive conclusion on the effectiveness of the intervention or treatment. That is not to say that the intervention is ineffective – but that there is an absence of evidence demonstrating its effectiveness. Hence the need to tolerate ambiguity while, of course, being aware that the implications are that there is a need for further robust research to provide a definitive answer.

This leads us to consider the differences between pure problem-solving and critical thinking. Critical thinking may be part of the process of problem-solving but may not lead to a solution. To the critical thinker, assumptions about the outcome do not exist; therefore problem-solving follows a different process. Facione et al. (1994) summarise this by suggesting that critical thinking is ultimately a cognitive engine that drives problem-solving and decision-making.

Therefore, if we accept Dewey’s definition, critical thinking is essentially about evaluating the worth, accuracy or authenticity of something through a critical review of the evidence. This is likely to lead to a supportable decision or direction for action.

More recent definitions of what critical thinking is echo Dewey’s definition and include:

Critical thinking is not one single way of thinking, but rather it is multi-dimensional cognitive process. It demands a skilful application of knowledge and experience in making discriminating judgements and evaluations.

(Jones and Brown, 1991, p. 530)

And:

the rational examination of ideas, inferences, principles, arguments, conclusions, issues, structures, beliefs and actions.

(Bandman and Bandman, 1995, p. 7)

Bandman and Bandman (1995) add a qualifying statement to their definition in which they say that critical thinkers are also self-aware and sympathetic to others. They need to be open-minded in that there needs to be a willingness to respect the rights of others to hold different opinions. This is interesting because it adds a human dimension to the definition. This makes sense if we consider that to think critically means the individual must be aware of the problems of bias or incomplete reasoning. If we are to be logical, we must therefore recognise our own biases and engage in some critique of our own reasoning processes. In this way there is an element of being self-regulatory by monitoring one’s own thinking.

ACTIVITY

Have a look at some of the wider literature on critical thinking and review some of the definitions. Are there any emerging themes or commonalities?

The diverse and differing number of definitions may seem daunting initially. However, it is worth considering what the different definitions have in common. Daly (2001) has suggested that there are four fundamental constituents of critical thinking and these provide a useful starting point for understanding what it means. They are:

•		a pre-requisite knowledge base;
•		a series of intellectual skills;
•		a disposition to use both knowledge and skills in scrutinising and evaluating information;
•		a series of intellectual standards to which such thinking should conform.

(Daly, 2001, p. 121)

ACTIVITY

Refer back to the broad learning outcomes of postgraduate study specified by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) reported at the beginning of this chapter. How do they match up with Daly’s ‘fundamental constituents’ of critical thinking?

The first constituent of critical thinking suggested by Daly, a pre-requisite knowledge base, needs little comment as it is clearly essential to have a fundamental understanding of a subject in order that meaningful connections can be made between new and existing knowledge cumulatively.The third constituent, the disposition to use knowledge and skills, bringing a critical dimension to all aspects of life – in other words, becoming aware of fallacious arguments, ambiguity, and manipulative reasoning – has already been discussed. However, both the second and final constituents – what intellectual skills are required of the critical thinker and the intellectual standards that critical thinkers must adhere to – require some further exploration.

Intellectual skills exhibited by the critical thinker

ACTIVITY

List five intellectual skills that you think the critical thinker should exhibit.

Facione et al. (1994) postulated that if a specific attitude or disposition towards critical thinking is not evident, then the critical thinking skills will not be used. To this end, Facione developed a tool for measuring an individual’s disposition to critical thinking. This is known as the Californian Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory and has been used quite widely in research to assess critical thinking disposition (Shin et al., 2006). The inventory focuses on the key attributes:

•		open-mindedness;
•		inquisitiveness;
•		truth-seeking;
•		analyticity;
•		systematicity;
•		self-confidence;
•		maturity of judgement.

These are interesting personal characteristics that you might want to consider in terms of self-evaluation and your own disposition towards using critical thinking skills. However, for a more specific skills-based list of the skills themselves, it might be useful to look to educational theory and, in particular, to the work of Bloom.