Critical Thinking: Questioning Depth

Critical Thinking Standards: Depth

Paul and Elder (2008) describe what they believe to be the essential standards of the critical thinking process. These standards, in order of importance, are the following: clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, and fairness. When the authors recommend questioning the depth of one's question they are implying that the question under consideration may be more superficial than it should to be. A critical thinker who wishes to render a question less superficial will acknowledge the complexities inherent to the question, judge the relative value of different factors to enable prioritizing the thought process, and setting aside any urges to ignore problems with the question. Once the depth of a question has been considered, along with the other standards, the information thus gleamed can be used to inform the elements of reasoning, which in turn promote intellectual traits inherent to critical thinkers.

In another class I was required to complete an essay on a topic in health and I chose childhood obesity. My rationale for choosing this topic was based on a National Public Radio (NPR) news piece discussing the contribution of too many calories and too little exercise to this health problem. The question the essay addressed was "What are the causes of childhood obesity?" At first blush there only seemed to be two contributing factors, so I assumed it would be a straightforward essay to write. The first paragraph on a webpage published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC, 2013) validated my assumption; however, a more careful reading of the webpage revealed the contributing factors were much more complex than the NPR news story discussed.