CRITICAL THINKING DISPOSITION OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN PRACTICE DISCIPLINES (NURSING, EDUCATION, AND BUSINESS) AND NON-PRACTICE DISCIPLINES (ENGLISH, HISTORY, AND PSYCHOLOGY): AN EXPLORATORY STUDY.
Contributors: University of Maryland, College Park.
Published: 1996
Number of pages: 189
Subjects: Education, Higher.; Psychology, Cognitive.; Psychology, Developmental.
Description: The purpose of this study was to examine differences among undergraduates in the disposition toward critical thinking across gender and major, and to examine the stability of the factor structure of Facione's (1992) California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) across gender and major. The CCTDI examined the disposition toward critical thinking for seven factors, Truth-seeking, Open-mindedness, Analyticity, Systematicity, Confidence, Inquisitiveness, and Maturity. The participants were 499 male and female undergraduate students at a public university in the mid-Atlantic states. All participants were surveyed using a demographic instrument and the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI), administered in classes with permission of professors.

Differences were found among majors on overall disposition toward critical thinking in Truth-seeking, Open-mindedness, Confidence, Inquisitiveness, and Maturity. Using GPA as a covariate, factorial MANCOVAs found differences for gender on Open-mindedness and Maturity, and differences across majors in Truth-seeking, Open-mindedness, Confidence, Inquisitiveness, and Maturity. A principal components confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the CCTDI had high stability for gender for two factors, moderate stability for two additional factors, and no stability for the remaining three factors. Stability for major was found for one factor. Item loadings on factors in this study contained combinations of factors originally defined by Facione. Two factors were renamed. Additional results indicated that highest-eventual-degree, gender, and major were the variables explaining the most variance for critical thinking disposition. Highest-eventual-degree had a unique influence on the scores for critical thinking disposition. The data strongly suggest that the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory was capable of discerning differences among different majors and genders. The data further suggested that the instrument was partially stable for gender and across majors, but further research is needed to replace unstable construct combinations which are built into some items of this instrument.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-10, Section: A, page: 4292.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK, 1996.

School code: 0117.