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What is an evaluation?
What is an evaluation?
When you evaluate sources and arguments, you judge their quality, value or significance. You consider their strengths and limitations with respect to the examination you are undertaking or to a particular context.
Evaluation requires you to ask questions such as:
What are the strengths and limitations of the source or argument?
How well are the claims supported by reasons and evidence?
What claims need further investigation?
How does the quality of one source or argument compare with others that address a similar topic?
What contribution to knowledge does it make?
What is your overall assessment of the source or argument?
Evaluation is supported by analysis. Analysis allows you to break your sources into their component parts and see how they work. Evaluation then assesses the component parts as well as the entire source, and makes a judgement about their quality, value or significance. Without analysis, evaluation can easily become biased or flawed.
The ability to evaluate is a key critical thinking skill. Evaluating arguments made by others will improve your own critical thinking and allow you to develop stronger and more refined arguments.
How to evaluate sources, arguments, evidence and methodologies
How to evaluate sources, arguments, evidence and methodologies
Another way of evaluating arguments is to follow a more systematic step-by-step approach. The following six steps apply the same principles as the questioning approach above.
This approach can be useful when you are evaluating complex arguments, or when you need to evaluate multiple sources by using the same criteria.
You can adjust the steps as needed to suit your assessment or project. As you follow the steps, you may find it useful to map the argument through analysis or to create a detailed argument map for complex arguments.
Assess the main argument. The key message of a source is often put forward as a main or central argument which needs to be carefully considered in terms of its strengths and limitations.
Investigate implicit claims or reasoning. Check if the argument is presented in a way that asks the reader to draw conclusions even though they are not explicitly stated.
Assess the evidence. A valid claim is supported by reliable evidence from credible sources. Claims without any evidence could be assumptions or opinions and signal a weak argument.
Appraise the reasoning. A strong argument will clearly explain the logical connection between a claim and the associated evidence.
Consider the limitations. A well-reasoned argument will acknowledge its limitations and potential biases. To get a better sense of strong and weak arguments, you can explore other sources that present arguments on a similar topic.
Formulate your evaluation. Your own evaluation should consider the overall quality of a source or an argument. It should also highlight its strengths, limitations and contribution. Assessment requirements about evaluation can vary, so read the assessment description carefully.
A general rule when evaluating methodologies and evidence is that reliable methodologies, when applied well, result in reliable evidence.
When you use methodologies or evidence from other sources, always question them to ensure they are credible, relevant and accurate for your purpose.
The criteria for deciding what is strong or weak methodology and evidence vary by discipline. When evaluating them, you should therefore keep in mind both the assessment guidelines and the standards and expectations of your discipline.
The following questions will help you determine the strengths and limitations of methodologies and evidence:
What are the main strengths and limitations of the methodology?
Is the methodology the most relevant, precise and accurate for the task?
Is the methodology reliable? Is it a standard methodology used in the discipline?
Is the methodology reproducible (i.e. would someone be able to follow the same steps to achieve the same outcome)?
How does the choice of methodology impact the generalisability of the argument(s) it supports?
How well was the methodology applied?
Is it possible that the methodology or evidence could be influenced by bias or incorrect reasoning?
How accurate and precise was the generation, collecting and processing of data or evidence?
What are the main strengths and limitations of the evidence?
Are there any gaps, inaccuracies, inconsistencies or errors in the data or evidence?
Is the evidence open to multiple interpretations?
How might evidence affect the argument(s) it supports if viewed from a different perspective?
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