Updating your Question-asking Tool Kit: Session 3 — Propositional Questions

1. Background

Welcome to the 3rd updating session. I recommend you read the two preceding ones before this one.

· Upgrading Your Question-Asking Tool Kit: Session 1 — Retooling Open-ended Questions.

· Upgrading Your Question-Asking Tool Kit: Session 2 — Operational Questions

Some catching up:

Possible answers from brainstorming session for an open-ended question in the 1st session: Why aren’t Americans better critical thinkers?

1. Not developed in American education

2. Poor cognitive discipline

3. Too lazy.

4. No pay-off/not positively reinforced

5. (Add your own possible answers)

Here are three operational questions related to item 1 from the brainstormed list in the 2nd session:

· Are critical thinking tests available?

· What percent of the students (grade levels 9–10 ) have no change on standardized critical thinking tests from the beginning to the end of the school year?

· Do students in secondary school science classes have greater critical thinking skills improvement during the school year than students in history classes?

You might wonder, “Are these good operational questions?”

You need a tool for generating and evaluating operational questions.

2. Propositional Questions

Propositional questions are just the tool you need. They come in a general format that requires your input.

The general format for propositional questions is “Is the conclusion…(insert X conclusion)… necessarily and sufficiently supported by the answers to the operational questions?”

Here is how you would use the propositional question tool if you were working on the critical thinking question above; Why aren’t Americans better critical thinkers?

· Grab the open-ended question (Why aren’t Americans better critical thinkers?) and one of the brainstormed possible answers: (‘…not developed in American education.’)

· Combine them and convert them into a conclusion: (“Americans aren’t better critical thinkers because it is not developed in American education.”)

· Insert the conclusion into the Propositional Question format: Is the conclusion,“Americans aren’t better critical thinkers because it is not developed in American education.” necessarily and sufficiently supported by the answers to the operational questions?

· Create whatever operational questions you need to confidently answer “YES” to the propositional question.

OR

· Evaluate whether or not the operational questions and answers you have are necessary and sufficient for a “YES” answer to the propositional question.

Note that propositional questions serve as “bridges” to move from open-ended questions to operational questions and back again.

· Fashioning a propositional question before gathering data identifies the conclusion as the focus of the inquiry and sets the stage for selecting operational questions.

· Stating and answering a propositional question after gathering information with operational questions announces that “This is/isn’t reality given the information available.”

Can you see how the answer to a propositional question affirms (YES) or negates (NO) a conclusion drawn from a possible answer to an open-ended question? A “yes” answer means that enough facts, gathered from a specific set of relevant questions, support the truth/reality of the conclusion.

A “no” answers means that there is not enough evidence and/or relevant facts to support the truth/reality of the conclusion.

Note also that, at a minimum, a propositional and an operational question are implicitly necessary in order to assert that a possible answer to an open-ended question is a correct answer. This observation will be especially important when we consider using propositional questions to evaluate conclusions drawn by others.

3. Necessary and Sufficient

In order to master the use of propositional questions, you need to consider what “necessarily” and “sufficiently” mean for you. Different fields have less or more stringent criteria for these two terms. A standard benchmark for either term could make conclusions impossible to support or grossly invalid. You want levels of “necessary and sufficient” to work for your information needs.

Knowing common violations of “necessary and sufficient” will help you.

Common errors (and hypothetical examples) regarding “necessary” criteria:

· Supporting data/conclusion mismatch error

Data — Student projects entered in the Valley Science Fair have increased each year for the past three years.

Conclusion — Valley school system students have increased their critical thinking skills over the past three years.

· Questionable accuracy of data error

Data –Number of books read and hours of reading time per month during June, July, August voluntarily reported by students.

· False premise/faulty reasoning error (Note — A conclusion can be based on qualitative reasoning or quantitative analysis.)

Logical reasoning: 1.) Extensive reading develops critical thinking, 2.) The reported mean reading time per month for students with GPA of 3.0 or above is greater than students with GPA of 3.0 or below. 3.) Conclusion — Students with GPA of 3.5 or above are better critical thinkers than students with GPA of 3.4 or below.

· Mismatched analogy error-

Analogous reasoning: 1.) Intelligence is to critical thinking as speed is to superior performance in athletics 2.) speed is inborn. 3,) Hence, critical thinking and superior performance in athletics cannot be coached or taught because they are inborn.

A. Common errors (and hypothetical examples)regarding “sufficient” criteria:

· Overgeneralization error-

1) Data: Woodland Academy (private school) has increased their mean critical thinking scores for students and faculty each of the past four years.

2) Analysis: Woodland has implemented a program to encourage and actively support skepticism among faculty and students for the past four years.

3) Conclusion: Schools statewide could improve critical thinking scores by implementing programs to encourage and support skepticism.

· Misuse of anecdotes error–

1.)Anecdote A — the senior social studies teacher in Ridgefield High School told his supervisor that, ‘I cannot adequately teach about the Civil War if I have to teach and encourage critical thinking. Most of the students are not improving their thinking skills anyway.’

2.)Anecdote B — The local pediatrician told the school board that ‘critical thinkers are born, not made’. It was her opinion that education should focus on ‘intellectual discipline’ and avoid ‘difficult lessons on difficult skills like critical thinking.’

3.)So –Critical thinking should not be a part of the school curriculum because it is impossible to teach and hard to practice,

· Quantitative tool use errors –

Ignoring, misunderstanding, or misusing tools associated with scientific research: significant difference, representative sample, sample size, probability levels, controlled study, clinical study (These are sophisticated tools. Explanations and examples are beyond the scope of a simple upgrade of your QTK. Real skill with these tools might require formal instruction and practice.)

4. Propositional Questions and Critical Thinking

The following excerpt from my book, Systematic Inquiry, briefly connects propositional questions to critical thinking about others’ use of their QTK.

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“You have undoubtedly heard someone present information and a conclusion that did not make sense. The information and the conclusion did not go together. You may have referred to it as a “non sequitur” which in Latin literally means, ‘It does not follow’. Some other information was necessaryin order to come to the stated conclusion. Or, some other conclusion was necessary in order to match the information available. The stem of propositional questions uses “necessarily …support” to raise uncertainty regarding the logical connection between the answers to the operational questions and the conclusion…

…So, in education, government, business, community activism, everywhere — make it common practice to view alleged statements of reality as conclusions and embed them in propositional questions that need to be considered. Use propositional questions as challenges to suppositions and half-truths. Use them to develop critical thinking. Everyone in a futuristic, innovative organization should have a much-used algorithm for propositional questions in their skill set.”

· Suppose you had your ‘much used algorithm’ for propositional question tool use handy at all times.

· Suppose further that you were at the school board meeting and heard the local pediatrician say, ‘critical thinkers are born, not made.’

· Suppose even further that it was second nature for you to whip out your propositional question tool and immediately think, “Is the conclusion, ‘Critical thinkers are born, not made.’ necessarily and sufficiently supported by the answers to the operational questions.”

· Suppose your next thought was“What operational questions would have to be asked in order to support such a conclusion?”

· Next, you might very well think that the Doc ought to know that it is currently impossible to conclusively show that critical thinking is a function of your DNA. Furthermore, showing that critical thinkers cannot be made is a case of “proving the negative;” which is also impossible.

Propositional Questions are the shiniest new tool in your kit. It is not the Swiss Army Knife of question-asking, but it is indispensable!

A minor, but important point before we call an end to this session — If you look back to the critical thinking example, it is obvious that one uncertainty grew into several questions. That is not unusual with inquiry analysis– a new technique for your tool kit and skill set. That will be the topic of Session 5 — Updating your Question-asking SKILL SET With Inquiry Analysis Techniques.

Before we get to Session 5, we need to take a look at Decision Questions. That is the next topic — 4th session: Expanding Your Question-asking Took Kit With Decision Questions

Departing challenge:

· Think of several uncertainties in your field.

· Generate a couple open-ended questions.

· Brainstorm possible answers for the open-ended questions.

· State Propositional Questions for selected possible answers.

· Think about yes/no Operational Questions that would provide necessary and sufficient evidence to answer your Propositional Questions and, hence, open-ended questions.