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