| The concept of critical thinking is considered essential for success both in and beyond the classroom experience. Critical thinking is often viewed in two different, yet complementary, parts—the skill dimension and the dispositional dimension. The disposition to think critically is concerned with an individual's attitude toward the critical thinking process. The purpose of this study was to assess and compare the critical thinking dispositions of master's level counseling students and master's level business students. Specifically, it was hypothesized that master's level counseling students would show a stronger disposition toward critical thinking than master's level business students. The study was guided using a definition of critical thinking proposed by the Delphi Report, which was summarized by Peter Facione (1990) and published by the American Philosophical Association. A convenience sample of 100 graduate level students enrolled in a master's level counseling program (N = 51) and a master's level business program ( N = 49) from a small university in the southeastern United States were asked to volunteer as participants for the study. Participants were requested to complete a 75-item questionnaire entitled the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI; Facione & Facione, 1992), which was used to assess to what extent master's level counseling students and master's level business students are disposed (i.e., inclined) toward thinking critically.; Analysis of the results revealed that both master's level counseling students and master's level business students showed a positive disposition toward critical thinking, but the results did not support the hypothesized direction that master's level counseling students would score higher than master's level business students. Furthermore, the results showed that, although students in both disciplines have a positive disposition, scores on one of the sub-scales, Truth-seeking, was below what the authors of the instrument would deem as a positive inclination. The study offered recommendations for future research interested in examining critical thinking among graduate level students. |
