Critical thinking : understanding and evaluating dental research / Donald Maxwell Brunette ; with contributions by Ben Balevi, Helen L. Brown.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brunette, Donald Maxwell, author.

Contributor:

Balevi, Ben, contributor.

Brown, Helen L., contributor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dentistry--Research--Evaluaton.

Dentistry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (419 pages)

Edition:

Third edition.

Place of Publication:

Berlin : Quintessence Publishing, [2020]

Summary:

The Internet has given us access to an unprecedented amount of information, but this development also facilitates the spread of misinformation if we do not think critically and evaluate what we read. The third edition of this classic textbook has been revised based on developments in biomedical research practices over the past decade to provide readers with the most up-to-date resource for navigating the ever-expanding world of dental literature. The book covers rhetoric and logic, the scientific method, components of scientific papers, research strategies, probability and statistics, diagnostic tools and testing, and experiment design. The chapter about searching the dental literature has been updated with the most current resources and search techniques available. A new chapter about clinical decision making uses a decision tree analysis with worked-out calculations to show how critical thinking skills can be used to select the most appropriate treatment decision in a clinical scenario; this is followed by a whole chapter of exercises in critical thinking. This book emphasizes how readers can practically apply critical thinking skills to evaluate scientific literature and thereby make the most informed decisions for their patients and themselves.

Contents:

Reasons for studying critical thinking

Scientific method and the behavior of scientists

The components of a scientific paper

Rhetoric

Searching the dental literature

Logic : the basics

Introduction to abductive and inductive logic : analogy, models,and authority

Causation

Quacks, cranks,and abuses of logic

Elements of probability and statistics, part 1 : discrete variables

Elements of probability and statistics, part 2 : continuous variables

The importance of measurement in dentistry

Errors in measurement

Presentation of results

Diagnosis tools and testing

Research strategies and threats to validity

Observation

Correlation and association

Experimentation

Experiment design

Statistics as an inductive argument and other statistical concepts

Judgment

Introduction to clinical decision making

Exercises in critical thinking.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes index.

ISBN:

9780867159882

086715988X

9780867158014

0867158018

9780867159998

0867159995