Critical Thinking in Designing and Analyzing Research

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511804632.006

5 - Critical Thinking in Designing and Analyzing Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012

Robert J. Sternberg and

Elena L. Grigorenko

Edited by

Robert J. Sternberg ,

Henry L. Roediger III and

Diane F. Halpern

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Robert J. Sternberg: Affiliation:
Tufts University
Elena L. Grigorenko: Affiliation:
Yale University
Robert J. Sternberg: Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
Henry L. Roediger III: Affiliation:
Washington University, St Louis
Diane F. Halpern: Affiliation:
Claremont McKenna College, California

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Summary

If you are like most students, you prefer an easy test to a hard test. “Who wouldn't?” you might ask. But if you are a good student, you probably should prefer a hard test to an easy one, for reasons to be discussed. Our intuitions in these matters are not always correct: Sometimes what seems less preferable is actually more preferable, by far.

In this chapter, we consider 21 basic lessons of critical thinking as applied to designing and analyzing research. We do not discuss sophisticated issues, but rather the fairly simple ones that we learn in elementary statistics and design courses, but that nevertheless often trip us up.

MATTERS OF DESIGN

Lesson 1: Make Sure Your Research Question Is Worth Answering in the First Place

We have spent some portion of our careers editing journals. The Number 1 problem we found was not exactly one of design or analysis, but one of whether it was even worth it to design a study in the first place. Always start by asking whether the question is indeed worth asking. Are you really interested in the answer to the question you pose? Would anyone else be? Why? Is the question a big one or a little one? If it is a little one, is it too little to be worth asking?

Type: Chapter
Information: Critical Thinking in Psychology , pp. 75 - 89

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511804632.006 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2006

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