Critical Evaluation Toolkit

Employers' comments

"We have actually started giving a test when we recruit. I give them a scenario, and say, 'Explain to me the process that you would use to analyse the risks in this situation and how you would communicate those risks to me.' I will look for the people who lead up to the whiteboard and conceptualise it by drawing it out."

(Employer of Griffith Criminology and Criminal Justice Graduates, 2001)

"Analysis and critical evaluation would have to be two of the most important skills we look for, because we believe that graduates already have learned the content knowledge. What they then need is the ability to apply that knowledge. If they can analyse and evaluate the knowledge they have, then they can apply it in the workplace."

(Employer of Griffith Engineering Graduates, 2003)

"We have a lot of graduate analyst roles: manufacturing analyst roles, sales analyst roles, etc. And all these roles have an element where they need to analyse data, they need to analyse trends in our business. With some of the roles, they actually need to analyse other business units, other departments - and think outside the box. We're not looking for old styles of thinking. We're looking for graduates with fresh blood and new ways of thinking, so that's where those kind of skills come in."

(Employer of Griffith Graduates, 2004)

"I look for critical evaluation skills within the workplace context because that's the kind of thing that will help take the organisation forward. They [new graduates] represent a new breed of thinking. Also, dealing with the political environment that they work in... I think that is one of the major things people have to learn."

(Employer of Griffith Criminology and Criminal Justice Graduates, 2002)

"Developing a critical approach to learning is about challenging preconceptions, both those of the learner and the teacher. It is about being able to develop opinions and being able to justify them, to be able to think about knowledge as a process not some 'thing' they tentatively approach and selectively appropriate. A critical approach is about students having the confidence to assess and develop knowledge for themselves rather than submitting packaged chunks to an assessor who will tell them if it is sufficient or 'correct'. It ultimately requires students to self-assess, to be able to decide what is good-quality work and to be confident when they achieve it."

Harvey, L. (1999). New Realities: The Relationship between Higher Education and Employment.
Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 20 March, 2006.
http://www.shu.ac.uk/research/cre/publications/eair99.pdf

Graduates' comments

"The importance of analysis and critical thinking is apparent in daily life. It can help you avoid the mindset of 'Well, that's the way I've always done it.' Behaviours, habits, tasks and even the way one goes about making decisions can be critically analysed and evaluated. That doesn't mean that each daily decision has to become a laborious analytical nightmare. But it does mean that maybe if you're not happy with certain recurring outcomes, you might need to take a critical approach to the process."

(Griffith Graduate, 2002)

Students' comments

"As an undergraduate, it can be easy to be intimidated by academic discourse. The fear is that you will simply be parroting a standard line or that your inability to deconstruct an argument will be apparent. Developing critical thinking and evaluation skills is definitely a learned quality that needs to be practised."

(Griffith Student, 2003)

"Assignment work at university has really developed my critical thinking and analytical skills. This is because I'm required to analyse and interpret information, filter out information that isn't relevant and use it to form an intelligent argument."

(Griffith Student, 2003)

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