Chinese Critical Thinking: Structure and Measurement

Based on Byrnes' definition and theory of critical thinking, through the research of approximately 1000 college and adult subjects, the authors have determined the structure of critical thinking of Chinese people and compiled the corresponding scale. In order to verify Byrnes's theory of critical thinking structure, the authors first interviewed 40 subjects and generated a question bank for measuring critical thinking. Then, a preliminary scale was compiled. Second, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the data of 284 college students and the three dimensions of Chinese critical thinking - analytic ability, open-minded to criticism, and effort to use critical thinking, were obtained. Third, the authors conducted a confirmatory factor analysis on the data of 168 subjects, which confirmed the fit of the three-dimensional model. Finally, the data of 586 subjects were analyzed to further prove the reliability and validity of the scale. The result shows that the scale to measure the critical thinking of Chinese people conform to the theoretical constructs of Byrnes and colleagues. This scale has important theoretical and practical significance for future research in related fields. © 2022 Peking University.