Asking the Right Questions

Cover......Page 1
Title Page......Page 4
Copyright Page......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 12
The Noisy, Confused World We Live In......Page 16
Experts Cannot Rescue Us, Despite What They Say......Page 18
Critical Thinking to the Rescue......Page 19
The Sponge and Panning for Gold: Alternative Thinking Styles......Page 20
Weak-Sense and Strong-Sense Critical Thinking......Page 22
The Importance of Practice......Page 23
Critical Thinking and Other People......Page 24
Primary Values of a Critical Thinker......Page 25
Keeping the Conversation Going......Page 26
Writing and Speaking as Critical Thinkers......Page 28
Chapter 2 What Are the Issue and the Conclusion?......Page 31
Kinds of Issues......Page 32
Searching for the Issue......Page 33
Searching for the Author’s or Speaker’s Conclusion......Page 34
Clues to Discovery: How to Find the Conclusion......Page 35
Practice Exercises......Page 36
Sample Responses......Page 37
Chapter 3 What Are the Reasons?......Page 40
Initiating the Questioning Process......Page 42
Reasons First, Then Conclusions......Page 44
Writing and Speaking as Critical Thinkers......Page 46
Practice Exercises......Page 48
Sample Responses......Page 50
Chapter 4 What Words or Phrases Are Ambiguous?......Page 52
The Confusing Flexibility of Words......Page 53
Locating Key Terms and Phrases......Page 54
Checking for Ambiguity......Page 55
Determining Ambiguity......Page 56
Ambiguity, Definitions, and the Dictionary......Page 58
Writing and Speaking as Critical Thinkers......Page 60
Practice Exercises......Page 63
Sample Responses......Page 64
Chapter 5 What Are the Value and Descriptive Assumptions?......Page 67
General Guide for Identifying Assumptions......Page 69
Value Conflicts and Assumptions......Page 70
From Values to Value Assumptions......Page 71
The Communicator’s Background as a Clue to Value Assumptions......Page 72
Consequences as Clues to Value Assumptions......Page 73
The Value of Knowing the Value Priorities of Others......Page 74
Identifying and Evaluating Descriptive Assumptions......Page 75
Illustrating Descriptive Assumptions......Page 76
Common Descriptive Assumptions......Page 77
Clues for Locating Assumptions......Page 78
Writing and Speaking as Critical Thinkers......Page 79
Practice Exercises......Page 83
Sample Responses......Page 84
Chapter 6 Are There Any Fallacies in the Reasoning?......Page 86
Evaluating Assumptions as a Starting Point......Page 88
Discovering Other Common Reasoning Fallacies......Page 91
Looking for Diversions......Page 96
Sleight of Hand: Begging the Question......Page 97
Summary of Reasoning Errors......Page 98
Practice Exercises......Page 99
Sample Responses......Page 101
Chapter 7 The Worth of Personal Experience, Case Examples, Testimonials, and Statements of Authority as Evidence......Page 103
Fact or Opinion?......Page 104
The Need for Dependable Evidence......Page 105
Sources of Evidence......Page 106
Personal Experience as Evidence......Page 107
Testimonials as Evidence......Page 108
Appeals to Authority as Evidence......Page 110
Practice Exercises......Page 112
Sample Responses......Page 114
Personal Observation as Evidence......Page 115
Biased Surveys and Questionnaires......Page 116
Research Studies as Evidence......Page 118
General Problems with Research Findings......Page 119
Generalizing From the Research Sample......Page 123
Generalizing From the Research Measures......Page 124
When You Can Most Trust Expert Opinion......Page 126
Research and the Internet......Page 127
Writing and Speaking as Critical Thinkers......Page 128
Practice Exercises......Page 131
Sample Responses......Page 132
Chapter 9 Are There Rival Causes?......Page 134
When to Look for Rival Causes......Page 135
The Pervasiveness of Rival Causes......Page 136
The Cause or a Cause......Page 137
Multiple Perspectives as a Guide to Rival Causes......Page 138
Confusing Causation with Association......Page 139
Confusing “After This” with “Because of This”......Page 140
Explaining Individual Events or Acts......Page 141
Rival Causes and Your Own Communication......Page 142
Exploring Potential Causes......Page 143
Practice Exercises......Page 144
Sample Responses......Page 145
Chapter 10 Are Any Statistics Deceptive?......Page 148
Unknowable and Biased Statistics......Page 149
Confusing Averages......Page 150
Concluding One Thing, Proving Another......Page 152
Deceiving by Omitting Information......Page 153
Practice Exercises......Page 155
Sample Responses......Page 156
Chapter 11 What Significant Information Is Omitted?......Page 158
The Benefits of Detecting Omitted Information......Page 159
The Certainty of Incomplete Reasoning......Page 160
But We Need to Know the Numbers......Page 161
The Importance of the Negative View......Page 163
Omitted Information That Remains Missing......Page 164
Writing and Speaking as Critical Thinkers......Page 165
Practice Exercises......Page 168
Sample Responses......Page 169
Chapter 12 What Reasonable Conclusions Are Possible?......Page 170
Dichotomous Thinking: Impediment to Considering Multiple Conclusions......Page 171
Grey Thinking: Two Sides or Many?......Page 172
Productivity of If-Clauses......Page 173
Summary......Page 174
Practice Exercises......Page 175
Sample Responses......Page 176
The Discomfort of Asking the Right Questions......Page 178
Stereotypes......Page 179
Halo Effect......Page 180
Belief Perseverance......Page 181
Answering the Wrong Question......Page 182
Egocentrism......Page 183
Wishful Thinking: Perhaps the Biggest Single Speed Bump on the Road to Critical Thinking......Page 184
Final Words......Page 185
E......Page 188
O......Page 189
R......Page 190
W......Page 191