Stuart M. Keeley, Janet B. Parks, Lucie Thibault

chapter

3Thinking CriticallyAbout 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 toquestion 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 Issuesand 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 PhrasesAre 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 ReasoningContain 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 InformationIs 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