Critical thinking in health research and media

About this module

This module will explore scenarios to demonstrate why we need to apply critical thinking to health research and media that we engage with. The first scenario will look at how health research studies are portrayed in the media, while the second shows how sometimes the world of health research itself can be murky.

What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking is one of Deakin's Global Learning Outcomes (GLO4). All students are required to develop skills in critical thinking, in order to make an informed evaluation of information and develop skills as an independent learner.

When reading articles in the media or even reading studies in the field of health research, critical thinking helps us question what we are reading and ensure that we understand the full context of the work. This helps us understand how much trust we should place in what we read.

For example, when a news article focuses on a health study, it can be useful to question:

• Are they accepting the study's conclusions without question
• Or critiquing the study's findings

Steps of Critical Thinking

Sometimes it can be helpful to break down critical thinking into different steps or actions you can take when reading an article. There are many ways to do this. Below is an example of a process or flow diagram you can follow when critiquing what you're reading.

Think of questions you might ask yourself at each step. Your questions may change depending on the resource you are appraising, e.g. not all questions will apply to the media you're looking at.

Observe	Analyse	Evaluate	Contextualise	Question	Reflect
What am I reading? What does it say?	Who wrote this? Why was this written? Is this publisher reputable? Do they have bias?	Are they referencing good quality sources? Are they making assumptions? Is this based on evidence, or opinion?	What have others said on the topic? What is the background to this topic? How does the publisher/author want me to react? Why?	What is the purpose of this piece? Does it add positively to the world's knowledge? (Is it helpful?)	What would you have written? Would you reference this source? Would you pass this on to friends? Have you been misled?

Source: Thyer, E. (2013). Development of the critical thinking teaching resource. Deakin University. https://www.deakin.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/51222/critical-thinking.pdf

Module learning objectives:

• Thinking critically about how health research is presented in the media
• Understanding a media story's intent and how that affects the reader
• Assessing how accurately research studies are portrayed in the media
• Understand the impacts that inaccurate communication of research can have
• Consider the methods used to correct inaccuracies