Critical-thinking types among nursing and management undergraduates.
Watson and Glaser (1994) developed a short version, Form S, of their long-established Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA), as a quickly administered measure of critical thinking. This exploratory study used scores from the five sub-tests in Form S, with samples from two professional schools, nursing (n=233) and management (n=131) undergraduates, to identify the typology of critical-thinking types. Four clusters were identified, using a two-stage clustering procedure, in both samples. Discriminant analyses showed that 96% of participants were correctly classified using cluster membership and scores from the five sub-tests as discriminating variables. Implications and recommendations for education and training in critical thinking are presented as well as recommendations for future research on critical-thinking types.
Thorpe
Karran
K
School of Health Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alta., Canada T1K 3M4. thorpe@uleth.ca
Loo
Robert
R
D000328:Adult; D000416:Alberta; D002170:Canada; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D011340:Problem Solving; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000592:standards; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D013850:Thinking