Analyzing Information: Quality over Quantity
Throughout my schooling, I have had numerous opportunities to write. The quality of some the content I produced was… well let’s just say I was definitely writing to get a grade — not to write a quality piece.
And that’s the thing about research — the quality of the information is much more important that the quantity of sources you used. Reliability and validity are two “indicators” of information’s quality (p. 43, 49).
In the book Evaluating Critical Thinking, by Stephen P. Norris and Robert H. Ennis (1989), quality of information is discussed in Chapter 2: Gathering Quality Information. The authors define a course of thinking as critical if it involves actions that reason and reflect upon information (p. 42).
Reliability differs in definition when regarding the evaluation of thought processes. Norris & Ennis (1989) state that critical thinking is reliable thinking when “[T]he information gathering technique […] if it yields consistent results from one occasion to another” (p. 43). In an everyday sense, reliability is our perception if something or someone is dependable. Consistency in your past actions is what allows others to evaluate whether or not you are dependable — it all ties back to consistency (p. 44).
Norris & Ennis (1989) provide the notion:
“Validity in educational evaluation is very similar to the everyday notion of reliability: trustworthiness. A procedure for evaluating students’ critical thinking ability is valid if it can be trusted to tell us the extent to which students have critical thinking ability” (p. 49).
We can assess the validity of information by proving that it can be trusted by testing experiments. We can relate this back to reliability, as if we trust our consistent results, we can verify the information being assessed IS quality information.
I have practiced assessing information to be valid and consistent in my lab class. I am taking an Introduction to Geology course, and in lab we must identify different rocks based on certain qualities.
The tables I use to identify minerals has information about each one. Trusted scientists have proven that the cleavage of a specific mineral is consistent no matter the location of extraction. I have assessed the reliability and validity of the identification tables, and am able to use them in my experiments.
Evaluating our ability to think will allow us to make change wherever necessary. Assessing information’s reliability and validity is a great way to practice your analytical skills, and will help sharpen the mind.
Deep thinking is key…
Reference
Norris S. P. & Ennis R. H. (1989). Evaluating Critical Thinking. Pacific Grove, CA: Midwest Publications.
