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Critical Thinking

What is Critical Thinking?

According to the Cambridge dictionary, critical thinking is "the process of thinking carefully about a subject or idea, without allowing feelings or opinions to affect you".

A critical thinker can:

  • identify links and relationships between ideas.
  • determine the importance and relevance of arguments and ideas.
  • recognize, build and appraise arguments.
  • identify inconsistencies and errors in reasoning.
  • approach problems in a consistent and systematic way.
  • reflect on the justification of their own assumptions, beliefs and values.

(Source: SkillsYouNeed.com)

Critical Reading

Critical reading is a form of language analysis that does not take the given text at face value, but involved a deeper examination of the claims put forth as well as the supporting points and possible counterarguments. - Wikipedia

By asking yourself questions about what the text says, what the text does and what the text means, you will be able to identify the author's purpose, recognize bias in the work and understand the tone or persuasive elements that are used.

Inductive vs. Deductive Reasoning

An analogy means the comparison of two things based on their being alike in some way; or, the act of comparing two things that are alike in some way. - Merriam-Webster Dictionary

The use of Analogic Arguments can be useful if done properly. Check out the helpful links to find out more about analogic arguments.

Scientific Reasoning

Scientific Reasoning is the form of reasoning which includes the formation of hypotheses and the validation through scientific methods of those hypotheses. - Psychology Dictionary

For more information on the scientific method, check out this information from Jow Lau and Jonathon Chan - Scientific Method

P-values and P-hacking

The p-value or probability value is defined as the probability for a given statistical model that, when the null hypotheis is true, the statistical summary (such as the sample mean difference between two compared groups) would be the same as or of greater magnitude that the actual observed results.

P-hacking is the term for used for the manipulation of the process of statistical analysis and the degrees of freedom until they return a figure below the p<.05 level of statistical significance. 

For more information check out:

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