Theme 7 - Critical Thinking Flashcards
what is an issue?
a particular topic or even a question
What is a claim?
an answer or opinion and must be true or false. An opposition to a claim is whatever is needed to negate the claim
give an example of a claim
abortion is always morally acceptable
what are arguments?
claims with additional claims acting as a reason, they do not require two people and a simply used to settle an issue, just because you may accept a claim, doesnt mean you should accept the argument
what are premises?
-claims that serve as a reason and so creates an argument
-claims that oppose the initial claim
give an example argument you may get in optometry
the optimal clinical care and diagnosis of a patient in optometry e.g. patient X should receive this type of treatment
what can cause bias?
-a disproportionate weight in favour or against a particular idea or thing
-many people strongly follow certain beliefs or agree with specific claims despite the weak scientific evidence
what is confirmation bias
favouring evidence that supports your pre-existing beliefs while ignoring evidence that doesn’t
give 5 features that can create confirmation bias
-focussing all the attention on the favoured hypothesis only
-looking only or primarily for positive cases
-overweighting positive confirmatory evidence e.g. astrology, cold reading
-seeing what one is looking for e.g. if you’re a hypochondriac then when you think you’re ill, all normal body signs may be interpreted as a confirmation of illness
-the primary effect where evidence collected early carries more weight than that collected later
why may people experience confirmation bias?
-challenge avoidance (dont wanna find out theyre wrong)
-reinforcement seeking (wanting to find out theyre right
What is survivorship bias?
where a visible successful subgroup is mistaken for an entire group and hence you are actually observing a non-random sample as they are the only ones that have survived
give an example where you could get a survivorship bias
assessing smoking as a risk factor of AMD
what is selection bias? give an example
any unintended pressure applied to the selection of study participants which means a bias sample that doesnt reflect the pop. is chosen e.g. participants who can read a specific language
how can selection and survivorship bias be avoided?
-minimise loss of participants during a follow-up
-keep a record to determine any differences in a follow-up
-use incidence rather than prevalence
-use already available hospital data sets
what is regression toward the mean>
where if one sample of a random variable is extreme, the next sampling of the same random variable is likely to be closer to its mean
why can regression to the mean be problematic?
it can mislead researchers to believe that an intervention is the cause of an observed change when in reality its due to chance so is a reason controls are so important
what is a fallacy?
faulty reasoning that undermines the validity of an argument
what is fallacy of composition and give an example
when an error in assuming what is true for members of a group is also true for a group as a whole e.g. vision in my left eye is poor therefore i am in poor health
what is fallacy of division and give an example
an error in assuming that what is true of the whole group must also be true for some of its members e.g. i am in good health therefore my eye is in good health
What is ambiguity?
using language or linguistic structures with more than one meaning to mislead or misrepresent the truth
Name 8 fallacies
-fallacy of composition and division
-ambiguity
-ad hominem (degrees of credibility)
-strawman fallacy
-interested party and conflicts of interest
-appeal to authority/ experts
-the bandwagon (appeals to popularity / tradition/ common practise)
-red herring fallacy
-false dichotomy fallacy
what is the ad hominem fallacy? Give an example
-attacking a person’s character to undermine their argument instead of countering it logically
-‘i am the optometrist and you are the patient hence i am right and you are wrong’
what is strawman fallacy? Give an example
arguing against a false or distorted version of someone’s argument e.g. you don’t want to increase funding for childeren’s school meals so I guess you want children to starve
give three examples of conflicts of interest in optometry
- 20% of optoms felt pressure to sell glasses, CLs, and other optional products due to loyalty to the patient vs clinic and its focus on sales
- 36% of optoms felt they were given patients beyond their skill by the clinic
- many not given enough time to adequately assess the patient
what is the appeal to authority fallacy?
assuming a claim is true because an authority says so
what is ‘the bandwagon’ fallacy? Give an example
assuming a claim is true because many or most others believe it is e.g. watching tv is bad for your eyes
what is the red herring fallacy?
being distracted or misled from the real issue by focussing on something only partially related
give an example of a red herring fallacy that happened
a patient with 20:200 VA, no neurological problems, suggested to have keratoconus by fellow optom and on examination, a bilateral swollen disk was found and scan showed astrocytoma in frontal lobe, so the keratoconus info could have nearly lead the person doing the examination down the wrong path
what is a false dichotomy fallacy?
when only two options/ sides are presented when in reality there are more complexities, think black or white when there’s a spectrum of shades of grey
