Critical Thinking and Communication Quiz

Consider the following statement. The laws were criticised as being “out of touch” and “antiquated.” How is bias displayed in this statement?

• False classification schemes.

• Use of passive voice to hide responsibility.

• Ad hominem.

• Appealing to membership of a common group.

Consider the following argument. The current crisis with homelessness in Dartshire, our sister city in so many ways, is an important lesson to us here. The same problem could well occur here too if city hall doesn’t provide more options for those without accommodation in the near future. What type of argument is this?

• Quasilogical argument

• Generalization

• Co-existential argument

• Argument from analogy

Consider the following argument. Social housing should be considered an opportunity to move past current market-based methods of organizing shelter for people, rather than as a burden for governments. What type of argument is this?

• Dissociation argument

• Co-existential argument

• Generalization

• Causal argument

According to the lesson, how long does it take to master communication skills?

• 1 year

• 5 years

• 2-3 years

• Your whole life

Consider the following situation. You are in a Political Science tutorial examining non-traditional security. Your tutor has given you a hypothetical scenario involving a security threat. There are four people in your group – Steve, Gwen, Myriam, and Ajay. You each have to play a role as the head of a government department. You must work together to coordinate your departments after the security incident. Myriam, who is playing Minister for Immigration, is the first to speak, saying, “We’ll call the army to secure the airports.” Is Myriam’s use of an assertion here a good idea?

• Yes, because she is role-playing the head of a government department

• Yes, because someone needs to take control in this situation

• No, because she should be quiet and wait for the other members to speak

• No, because she is amongst peers

Consider the following situation. Mike is a first-year undergraduate studying Philosophy at university and his housemate, Jon, is a first-year Nutrition student. As part of one of his courses, Jon needs to collect data on the eating habits of first-year university students. To do this, he has asked Mike and nine of his other friends to keep a record of what they eat, and when, for a week. Mike agrees to help, and keeps a fairly accurate record of what he has eaten. When the week is up, Jon asks Mike to email him his data. However, when Mike is typing up his eating habits for the week, he realizes that he hasn’t eaten any vegetables at all. Not wanting to seem unhealthy, especially because he doesn’t want Jon to judge him, he pretends he made a pumpkin soup and adds that to his list. He also adds a couple of salads to some of his main meals and deletes one of the chocolate bars. Satisfied, he emails the list to Jon. Can Jon get in trouble for academic misconduct?

• Yes, because he is putting Mike in an uncomfortable position by collecting data about his health and eating habits

• No, Mike is in a different field to Jon and therefore it doesn’t matter

• Yes, because he hasn’t collected data from a random sample and instead used his friends

• No, though it will tarnish his results and not make them valid

Taking notes during lectures is an effective way that helps students get the most out of their courses. So, what should students note down?

• All information out of the textbook

• As much as possible

• Questions for lecturer/tutor

• Main ideas, Processes, Formulas, Arguments

• All of above

An audience-centered message will consider the audience’s

• Needs

• size

• probable reaction

• All of the answers are correct

What is the relationship between critical thinking and communication?

• Communication is needed to form an argument, and thus display critical thinking

• These two have no relationship at all

• Critical thinking helps you win when discussing an issue with friends

• Communication is critical to thinking

“Business students might be asked to list a number of solutions to a business problem in a business document” is an example of a(an):

• Technique

• Argument

• Report

• Recommendation