Chapter 8 Developing Critical Reading Skills

1. Evaluating Evidence
Chapter 8 Lecture
Read 142
Angela Henderson

2. Evidence defined
 Any information or support used to back up a
claim

3. Facts & Statistics
 Facts change
 Alcohol kills brain
cells.
 New study: dendrites
can grow in adulthood.
 Alcohol does damage
dendrites.
 Statistics
 Can be manipulated

4. Surveys & Poll Results
 Surveys are used to measure
people’s attitudes and beliefs.
 Need to be answered
honestly.
 Many survey questions are
ambiguous in their wording.
 Surveys contain many built-in
biases that make them even
more suspect:
 biased wording
 biased context

5. A Conclusion based on a Recent Poll
 A U.S. Congressman
sent a questionnaire
to his constituents
and received the
following results:
92% were against
government-
supported child-care
centers.
 Survey Question: Do
you believe the
federal government
should provide child-
care centers to assist
parents in rearing
their children?

6. Leading Words in Poll Questions
 Do you believe the federal government
should provide child-care centers to assist
parents in rearing their children?
Versus
Do you believe the federal government
should provide child-care centers to assist
parents who are unable to find alternative
child care while they are working?

7. Do we throw the baby out
with the bath water?
 Do not generalize further than warranted
 Know the reputation of the surveying
company
 Examine survey procedures before
accepting the results
 Generate your own qualified
generalizations

8. Examples and Illustrations
 Taken from observation, personal
experience or reading
Is the author an authority?
Is the personal experience valid?
Is the observation relevant to the claim?
Is it sufficient to persuade you to accept the
claim?

9. Good Reasons
 Cause & Effect
Pattern
 Remote cause

10. Testimony of Experts &
Authorities in the field
 Subjective
 Clear criteria
 Relevance to the
claim
 Accuracy

11. Analogy
 Analyze the
comparison for
validity and relevance

12. The Refutation
 Examination of one or
two of the
opposition’s strongest
arguments
 Disproves or finds
faulty with them
 Forms
 Concession
 Statistics
 Myths