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Critical thinking

What is critical thinking?

• Who has been asked to be more critical in their writing?

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• What does “critical thinking” mean to you?

What is critical thinking?

• Is not the same as criticising everything and everyone

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• Stems from the Greek “kritikos”, to judge

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• Investigate and test the evidence
• Consider alternative arguments and explanations
• Reach a conclusion

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• Most common issue is simply describing what the literature states

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• Critical thinking, University of Kent

Personas

From Becoming a Critical Thinker

For Your University Studies and Beyond

By Sarah Birrell Ivory

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Don’t just rubbish everything (1/2)

Dunne and Gaver [1997] have demonstrated a pillow with an LCD screen within it. The system attempts to show a design in which the explicit message is undetermined and is intended to provoke a search for this meaning. In other words the meaning is that the screen is active, not what is being displayed on the screen, creating a phatic link between interlocutors. However the pillow is not set up as a communication device but as an individual system – this is possibly due to the available technology at a time although without it the pillow is nothing other than an interesting ornament. The pillow is clearly extensible to a communication system – indeed [Dodge, 1997] has extended the pillow idea into a networked bed with a variety of novel outputs, including pillows which warm up when a partner pillow is hugged to simulate a person’s hug. The evaluation of this goes no further than gathering a few comments from fellow researchers. Although further work was mentioned, none can be found.

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Similarly, Goodman and Misilim [2003] take the idea of using the bed as a medium for relationship-focussed communication, given its connotations of closeness and intimacy. The difference from is the way in which the bed is supplemented – in this example, pressure pads and heating elements are used in an attempt to replicate a partner’s body heat in remote beds. How effective this is we cannot know given the total lack of evaluation of the device.

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Don’t just rubbish everything (2/2)

There has been a substantial investigation from designers in creating artefacts for supporting intimate communication through adapting physical artefacts with technology. While these are frequently unevaluated – standing as design provocations – they can inform our design thinking.

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For example, Dunne and Gaver [1997] have demonstrated a pillow with an LCD screen within it. The system attempts to show a design in which the explicit message is undetermined and is intended to provoke a search for this meaning. In other words the meaning is that the screen is active, not what is being displayed on the screen, creating a phatic link between interlocutors.

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Similarly, Goodman and Misilim [2003] take the idea of using the bed as a medium for relationship-focussed communication, given its connotations of closeness and intimacy. The difference from is the way in which the bed is supplemented – in this example, pressure pads and heating elements are used in an attempt to replicate a partner’s body heat in remote beds. This attempt to mimic co-located behaviours at a distance is an interesting resource for further investigations.

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Types of persuasion

From Becoming a Critical Thinker

For Your University Studies and Beyond

By Sarah Birrell Ivory

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Critical thinking - RAVEN

• Reputation
• Ability to observe
• Vested interests
• Expertise
• Neutrality

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• This places too much weight on the person making the claim, rather than the evidence behind it

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• Why do we value academic publications over random blogs?

Why does it matter?

• Not every paper is equal
• You may not agree with the conclusions made based on the evidence presented
• Looking across a body of evidence, you have concluded that a different claim is more likely

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• Thinking critically isn’t enough; have to capture that in writing

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• Have to present your reasoning and evidence in a manner that convinces others of your conclusions

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Follow the evidence

“The English historian James Spedding said that every historian when faced with a statement of fact must ask himself the question: Who first said so, and what opportunities had he of knowing it?”

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Rephrased, we might say every doctoral student must ask:

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“What evidence is there for this claim, and is the claim the best explanation of the evidence”

Questions to ask when reading

• Why am I being told this?
• Where’s the evidence to support this? How much of this is rhetoric?
• How else might you read the same data?
• What am I not being told?
• What are the implications of this?
• Who is telling me this? (vested interests, bias)

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https://www.kent.ac.uk/learning/documents/student-support/valuemap/valuemap1516/criticalthinkingandwriting171015alg.pdf

Activity

• I’ve collated 5 examples of writing with varying different approaches to critical writing.

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• In your breakout rooms, critique their level of critical thinking.

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• Nominate a person to feedback for discussion
• No expectation to read and discuss all 5 – start with the example number I give your group, and then read forward from there.

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• 20mins

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[customise using material written by the coordinator]

Activity - feedback

• Discussion

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• Often easier to critique someone else’s work, so ask someone to read through your argument...

Writing tips

Practice makes perfect – write, write, write

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Write a scaffold

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Make an argument map – previous sessions in PGForum

Always question your own thinking and writing:

• What is the main point I want to make?�• Can I back up my argument? (i.e. not “x” but “x because y”)�• Is my evidence relevant, accurate, up-to-date?

• Is my view based on false premises/false logic?

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Reviewing your writing

• Always review your writing – ideally after having a break from it.

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• When reviewing, note the key idea for each paragraph, and each section. Reading just those notes, does the narrative make sense?

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• For each paragraph/section, is it clear what the underlying evidence is, and what your interpretation of that evidence is?

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• Try to recognise the limitations in your own evidence, arguments, and conclusion

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Activity – AI debate

“This house believes that AI will never be ethical.”

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The activity is not to come to an answer.

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In your breakout rooms, take 5 minutes to individually think through how you would construct an argument in this debate.

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Then as a group, take 20 minutes to discuss these plans, contrast and compare, and think through where the weaknesses in your critical thinking could be.

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Nominate someone to take notes; and please email me the plans and notes later today.

BBC/OU IDEAS

1. Beware confirmation bias
2. Embrace nuance and complexity
3. Practice intellectual humility
4. Check your sources
5. Avoid fallacies

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/five-simple-ways-to-sharpen-your-critical-thinking/p0929tns

Activity – Meta critique

Critique this session on critiquing. Did it help? What were you expecting?

Resources

• https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Becoming_a_Critical_Thinker/3KkPEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=critical+thinking+PhD+slides&pg=PA132&printsec=frontcover

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• https://thesiswhisperer.com/2016/06/15/critical-thinking-the-hardest-doctoral-skill-of-all/

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• https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781137378057

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• https://johncanning.net/wp/?p=1264

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• 1957 film, 12 Angry Men

Resources continued

• https://www.kent.ac.uk/learning/documents/student-support/value-map/valuemap1516/criticalthinkingandwriting171015alg.pdf

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• https://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers-professional-development/knowledge-and-intellectual-abilities/using-critical-thinking-and-evaluation-in-research/using-critical-thinking-and-evaluation-in-research

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• https://www.futurelearn.com/info/blog/how-to-think-critically

Open Discussion