Blog Post: The Inquiring Thinker (Reflect on the decision-making process used in daily life) essay

Blog Post: The Inquiring Thinker
Goal: Reflect on the decision-making process used in daily life.
Description:We make countless decisions every day, large and small, and when we make these decisions we use a critical thinking process. Please write a well thought-out blog post and consider the following:– Write out a blog post about one important decision you make on a daily basis.– When making your decision, are you considering the objectivity, accuracy, currency, and credibility of the information?– When making your decision, are you using sound thinking that includes clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, and fairness?– Incorporate what you learned from the Week 1 and 2 Lesson, textbook, and Readings and Resources.Objective –
One of the first things you can do to determine a source’s worth is to see who wrote or sponsored or published or paid for the source. If the source is funded by a corporation or organization, the information contained in it will have to meet the values and goals of the corporation or organization. For example, information on an NRA site will necessarily be consistent with the goals of that organization. The same is true with information on a Sierra Club site. The objectivity of a source is an important consideration.
You should ask yourself these questions:
• Is the information being presented without bias?
• Is funding of this source limiting its ability to provide objective, fair information?
On the internet, a source with a URL address ending in “com” or “org” will be less likely to present unbiased information than a site that has a URL address ending in “gov” or “edu.” Why is this? Typically, government and education sources do not have to rely on the review and approval of its materials by individuals, boards, investors, or constituents. Commercial and organizational sources most often have information that is reviewed and approved by such persons and groups to make sure that information is by consistent with the goals and values of the corporation or organization. Objectivity is important in your sources of information.
Accuracy –
Accuracy is another way to determine a source’s value. When you look at information, you should ask yourself “Does this information seem to be accurate? Do I see errors? Is it consistent with information found in other sources that are known to be reliable?” You can also look at reference lists when you check out an information source. Solid lists give you a chance to verify the information.
Currency –
It’s good, when you are looking at information sources, to check out the date of its publication. Having material that is current can be very important. Think, for example, how much cell phones have changed in the last ten years. Information about cell phone options written ten years ago would not be as valuable to you as information written this year, unless you are researching about the history of the cell phone.
Credibility –
Credibility and reliability are two other features of good sources of information. An author who is an expert in his or her field is a better source of information than a person who is not fully trained in the field, someone who is not recognized as an expert in the field. Often we see celebrities serving as “experts” on topics they may or may not be fully informed about. These celebrities may not be highly credible sources. Reliability relates in part to credibility. A reliable source of information relates to its reputation to by experts in the field. Such experts often do what are called “peer reviews” of writings by others in their field. A source that is peer-reviewed is a higher quality source of information than one that is not.
When you gather information for your decisions, seek out sources that are objective, accuracy, recent, credible, and reliable. Your decision will then be based on solid information.
How do intellectual standards relate to critical thinking?
When people think critically, they typically apply certain intellectual standards. These standards are measures of sound thinking. It is important that you recognize, understand, and use these standards in your thinking and decision making activities. Universal intellectual standards related to critical thinking include these: clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, and fairness. Linda Elder and Richard Paul have written about these standards in their book: Intellectual Standards: The Words that Name Them and the Criteria that Define Them. (Paul, R. and Elder, L. (October 2010). Foundation For Critical Thinking, online at website:www.criticalthinking.org).
Here is a brief overview of these intellectual standards.
• Clarity is essential because, if you cannot understand a statement, how can you possibly determine if it is sound? If you see a statement that is unclear, seek clarification.
• Accuracy is important, as discussed earlier in the lesson. If you question the accuracy of information, do some checking. Try to find a way to verify or disprove the data.
• Precision is an important standard as it helps us get specific information. For example, a statement that “This particular vehicle is unreliable” is not precise. A better statement would be “This particular vehicle has a documented history of failure to start in cold weather, with details being available at….”
• Relevance is a key element of critical thinking standards because it measures a statement’s applicability to the issue at hand. If you are examining the picture quality of a particular cell phone, the options for case colors would not be relevant.
• Depth is another intellectual standard, one that recognizes the complexities of most issues. This standard helps a thinker recognize and avoid the traps of oversimplification and generalization that might prevent you from getting a complete picture of an issue.
• Breadth is similar to depth, in that it helps avoid generalizing and simplifying an issue. However, breadth guides a thinker to considering another point of view, maybe a different way of looking at the situation.
• Logic is a key intellectual standard as it helps you determine if something really makes sense. Does this point really follow from the ideas that preceded it? Logic helps you arrange your thoughts in ways that progress smoothly from one point to the next.
• Fairness has to do with objectivity. The criterion of objectivity in an information source was discussed earlier in the lesson. The ability to be objective and fair when thinking about an issue is a critical skill. It is especially hard to be fair and objective if you have a vested interest in an issue. It takes hard work, but you can try to approach issues being dedicated to fairness and objectivity. The result will be better critical thinking and decision making.What are key things to remember when making decisions?
When you are making a decision, it is important to remember to gather the information you need to make an informed decision. Then you need to evaluate the information to determine if it is information that you should use. You then should assess the benefits and drawbacks of options and apply the intellectual standards of clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, and fairness. As you work through these steps systematically, you will find yourself making decisions that are sound and appropriate for your situation at that time.
Conclusion
It is important to base decisions on sound information. In seeking and vetting information, one should apply critical thinking to decide if the information is current, objective, accurate and credible. Less than optimal decisions are made when deficient information is used as the basis of the decision or when dysfunctional thinking is used.
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