Stuart M. Keeley, Janet B. Parks, Lucie Thibault chapter 3 Thinking Critically About Sport Management

From the Experts Bob Boucher Janet Harris Allen Edwards Wendy Frisby (continued)

From the Experts (continued) Managers of the future –Need exceptional thinking skills –Must deal with contemporary issues Making good decisions –Not based on expediency –Based on justification

Becoming a Critical Thinker Components of critical thinking –Conscious reflection –Recognition of conflicting values Scenario –High school basketball player collapses during a tournament game. –What would your decision be?

What Is Critical Thinking? What critical thinking is not –Just thinking –Negative thinking –Creative thinking What critical thinking really is –Awareness –Ability –Desire (continued)

What Is Critical Thinking? (continued) Ideal critical thinkers –Care that their beliefs are true –Care to present a position honestly and clearly –Care about dignity and worth of others

An Equation of Critical Thinking The essence of critical thinking Critical thinking = Questioning skills + Desire to question and accept the results of the questioning

Sponge Versus Panning-for-Gold Sponge approach –By absorption –Fails to provide methods to believe or reject –Is ineffective Panning-for-gold approach –Listen with a special attitude –Interact actively with information and arguments –Allows you to sift through information available –Have a sense of self-confidence about beliefs –Have the ability to provide good justification

Critical Thinking Questions What are the issues and conclusions? What are the reasons? What words or phrases are ambiguous? What are the value conflicts and assumptions? (continued)

Critical Thinking Questions (continued) What are the descriptive assumptions? Does the reasoning contain fallacies? How good is the evidence? What significant information is omitted?

What Are the Issues and the Conclusion? Identify the issue Identify the conclusion Descriptive versus prescriptive

What Are the Reasons? Used to justify conclusion Helps answer the why question Reasons + Conclusion = Argument Merits based on quality

What Words or Phrases Are Ambiguous? Clarify key terms and phrases Seek clarification Make a conscious effort to recognize how changes in meaning will influence your reaction

What Are the Descriptive Assumptions? (an example) Scenario: Women’s Sports Foundation (2005) Conclusion and reason of scenario Assumptions of scenario Accept or reject

Does the Reasoning Contain Fallacies? Fallacies are mistakes in reasoning Represent erroneous or false assumptions Example: public moneys

How Good Is the Evidence? Quality and quantity Descriptive claims Forms of evidence Different kinds of evidence

Quality and Quantity The greater the quality and quantity of evidence, the more we can depend on it as fact Facts and beliefs should be supported with abundant evidence Opinions versus facts

Descriptive Claims Need to know what descriptive claims to count on Questions –Where is the evidence? –How good is the evidence? –What’s your proof? –How do you know that?

Forms of Evidence Good evidence depends on kind of evidence, such as Intuition Appeals to authorities Testimonials Personal evidence Case studies and example Scientific research studies Analogies

Different Kinds of Evidence Appeals to authority Personal testimonials Case studies Scientific studies Analogies

What Significant Information Is Omitted? Browne and Keeley (2004) highlight important kinds of omitted information By explicitly looking for missing information, you can decide whether you have enough information to judge the author’s reasoning