A comparison of a subject-specific and a general measure of critical thinking

The majority of studies reporting gains in college students’ critical thinking due to instructional process variables measured critical thinking with subject-specific questions rather than general or decontextualized questions. However, it is uncertain whether these gains were attributable to the use of subject-specific questions or to other distinctive aspects of these studies (e.g., methodological). The present study provides a direct, controlled comparison between general and subject-specific test questions in the context of a laboratory-based true experiment assessing the effect of higher order review questions on gains in critical thinking. A stronger effect was found when the tests of critical thinking contained questions that were subject-specific (e.g., introductory psychology) rather than questions that focused on general topics.