Psychometric Properties of the California Critical Thinking Tests

Abstract

The evaluation of critical thinking, as with any other measure, must employ instruments that meet appropriate psychometric standards. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the psychometricproperties of the two California Critical Thinking Tests. Two samples of undergraduate students enrolled in a southern comprehensive university took the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (TST) and the California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (TDI). A portion of the participants, who were nursing students, were retested on the TST and TDI two weeks after the initial testing. Some participants also completed the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA). In both samples the TST had neither sufficient psychometric properties to assess individual abilities nor sufficient stability reliability. In particular, the analysis subscale of the TST demonstrated exceptional weakness in all administrations. In contrast, the TDI demonstrated very good reliability estimates in all administrations of the test. The data did not conform to the subscale structure during factor analysis. Whereas the TST needs further refinement, the TDI demonstrated sufficient reliability for use in attitudinal research.

Critical Thinking Dispositions of Agricultural Communications Students

“…Because of validity and other concerns expressed by researchers about the CCTDI (Bondy, Koenigseder, Ishee, & Williams, 2001;Walsh & Hardy, 1997), the UF-EMI was developed as a more domain-specific measure of critical thinking dispositions (Ricketts & Rudd, 2005). The UF-EMI focuses on three subscales or constructs: innovativeness, cognitive maturity, and engagement.…”

Using Case Studies and Videotaped Vignettes to Facilitate the Development of Critical Thinking Skills in New Graduate Nurses

“…The CCTST is based on the Delphi Expert Consensus definition of critical thinking (Bondy, Koenigseder, Ishee, & Williams, 2001;Facione, 1990;Stone et al, 2001). The CCTST provides six scores: five subscales and an overall critical thinking score (Bondy et al, 2001;Stone et al, 2001).…”

“…Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) is designed to measure the affective, attitudinal dimension of critical thinking (Bondy et al, 2001;Stone et al, 2001). It is often used in conjunction with the CCTST.…”

“…Individuals respond to items in terms of their level of agreement on a 6-point scale, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree (Hicks-Moore & Pastirik, 2006;Stone et al, 2001;Wangensteen, Johansson, Bjorkstrom, & Nordstrom, 2010). In the CCTDI, each subscale measures a mental attribute, specifically the seven critical thinking dispositions that were identified by the Delphi panel (Bondy et al, 2001). The seven subscales are truth-seeking, openmindedness, analyticity, systematicity, self-confidence, inquisitiveness, and maturity (Bondy et al, 2001;Stone et al, 2001).…”

Measuring Teacher Dispositions Toward Teaching Sustainable Systems: A Mixed Methods Approach for Instrument Development and Psychometric Testing

“…There were 215 hits in ProQuest with 129 being peered reviewed. These inventories ranged from the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory, who reported psychometrics on this instrument, and found that it did not have sufficient psychometric properties to assess individual abilities nor sufficient stability reliability (Bondy, Koenigseder, Ishee, & Williams, 2001) to colleges, like the Southern Illinois University College of Education Edwardsville, that require every student that applies to the college to take the Student Disposition Inventory. Although the psychometrics for this inventory were not reported, The Texas San Antonio Future Disposition Inventory did report a rho <.08 on all of the subscales and significant discriminate validity that differentiated between known groups (Osman, Gutierrez, Barrios, Wong, Freedenthal & Lozano, 2010).…”