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5 - Critical Thinking in Designing and Analyzing Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

By
Robert J. Sternberg  and
Elena L. Grigorenko
Edited by
Robert J. Sternberg ,
Henry L. Roediger III  and
Diane F. Halpern
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
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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References

Ceci, S. J. (1996). On intelligence (Exp. rev. ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Gruber, H. E., and Davis, S. N. (1988). Inching our way up Mount Olympus: The evolving-systems approach to creative thinking. In Sternberg, R. J. (Ed.), The nature of creativity (pp. 243–270). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Herrnstein, R., & Murray, C. (1994). The bell curve. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Sternberg, R. J. (1977). Intelligence, information processing, and analogical reasoning: The componential analysis of human abilities. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Sternberg, R. J. (1985). Beyond IQ: A triarchic theory of human intelligence. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sternberg, R. J. (1997). Successful intelligence. New York: Plume.Google Scholar

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