Critical thinking and evaluation
Critical thinking is a hugely transferable skill that can be applied in almost any career.
- What is critical thinking and evaluation?
- Why are critical thinking and evaluation important?
- What tools for reasoning and what discourses are involved in critical thinking and evaluation?
- How can you improve your critical thinking and evaluation?
How can I develop my critical thinking and evaluation skills?
Critical thinking and evaluation underpin all research enquiry – they are vital skills to develop.
Being aware of your patterns of thought, and how other researchers have developed their research through certain modes of thinking, is a crucial skill to practice sharpening your research. Read our guide below about how to hone this necessary skill.
What is critical thinking and evaluation?
In the context of research, critical thinking and evaluation concerns the application of reason and judgement based on existing and newly acquired knowledge. This in turn further develops and re-structures the understanding of the subject matter.
Why are critical thinking and evaluation important?
- The skills of critical thinking and evaluation are vital in academic research to counteract subjective, illusory, and biased thinking, as well as to challenge false beliefs in our own or other researchers’ findings.
- Critical thinking relies on being objective and thereby suspending subjective judgement while acquiring and interpreting information, as well as being objective when drawing conclusions from this information.
- Critical thinking and evaluation involve the crucial skill of being objective in reasoning, the ability to recognise illusory thinking, prejudice and other forms of bias, propaganda, self-deception, distortion and misinformation in one’ own or another’s work.
- As a skill, critical thinking enables you to process new information, to filter out what is irrelevant, and to estimate which direction the research is going in, and who will be the key people involved.
- Critical thinking is a hugely transferable skill that can be applied in almost any career.
- Researchers who practice critical thinking are comfortable with ambiguity and questioning their own thoughts and beliefs. Developing the skills of critical thinking, and embracing creativity, can lead to independent thinkers.
What tools for reasoning are involved in critical thinking and evaluation?
- Inductive reasoning
- Deductive reasoning
- Abductive reasoning
What are the forms of discourse involved in critical thinking and evaluation?
- Argument
- Narration
- Description
- Exposition
How can you improve your critical thinking and evaluation?
- Practice being objective – bias is frequent in academia – from choosing which publications to include in a literature review, to which data to draw conclusions from. Take the time to question your patterns of thoughts and beliefs in order to conduct research more objectively.
- Explore the theory – what theory are you basing your research from? Theories undergo refinement, and a theory may be superseded by an updated one. Before applying critical thinking, ensure you have identified the theory underpinning the research, any further assumptions that have been made and how these have been justified. Stay aware of developments in theory.
- Find your researcher ‘voice’ – an important aspect of critical thinking is thinking for yourself and finding your ‘voice’ as a researcher. This can be expressed through writing, speaking and listening. You can progress from being descriptive to evaluating your own arguments and conclusions.
How can I best develop my researcher voice?
Begin by asking questions:
- What does the author say is relevant and important?
- What does the author give as evidence and justification?
- Ask these questions of yourself as well.
- Study the authentic voices of other researchers through their arguments and conclusions.
- As you begin to make your original contribution to the field, further opportunities will arise through invitations to peer review and referee publications, to attending conferences to give papers.
Be aware of these pitfalls when it comes to developing your researcher voice:
- Lack of respect for reason and evidence
- Intellectual arrogance
- Unwillingness to listen
- Intellectual laziness
Final takeaways
- Critical thinking and evaluation concerns the application of reason and judgement based on existing and newly acquired knowledge.
- The skills of critical thinking and evaluation are vital in academic research to counteract subjective, illusory, and biased thinking, as well as to challenge false beliefs in our own or other researchers’ findings.
- Take the time to question your patterns of thoughts and beliefs in order to conduct research more objectively.