Critical Thinking

By Professor Bergeron

Questions to ask while reading an article or chapter:

1. What are the issue(s) addressed and the conclusion(s)?

2. What are the reasons?

3. What words or phrases are ambiguous?

4. What are the value assumptions and conflicts?

5. What is the evidence?

6. Are the samples representative and the measurements valid?

7. Are there rival hypotheses?

8. Are there flaws in the statistical reasoning?

9. How relevant are the analogies?

10. Are there any errors in reasoning?

11. What alternative conclusions are consistent with the reasons?

12. What are your value preferences in this controversy?

Mental habits and biases to avoid:

a) relying on personal experience or anecdotal evidence.

b) embracing arguments that meet our personal psychological needs, i.e. we want the world
to be a fair world, therefore we may see the world as "fair" even when there is much
evidence to the contrary.

c) using stereotypes as substitutes for thought.

d) the urge to over-simplify complex arguments.

Adapted from:

Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking

by
Neil Browne and Stuart Keeley, Prentice Hall, 1986.