Analyzing information

- I am definitely one of those people who starts by trusting people. And I usually assume people are telling the truth. However, I'm notoriously tough on sources and I'm not afraid to dig deep into a source to make sure it's reliable. Making sure you have the best data possible is an essential part of analysis, which in turn, is an essential part of critical thinking. To make sure that your decisions and solutions are based on solid footing, you need to double check that your sources are trustworthy. When analyzing a source of information, you should ask the following questions. First, what is the purpose of the information? There's always an underlying reason the information exists and knowing what that is, is key. The purpose may be completely innocent like just wanting to help people to be informed. But even in these situations, the source may be guided by unconscious biases or by the sources that they're relying on. They may want to make sure that their side is understood or that someone else's voice is heard. Other times, there are underlying nefarious reasons you need to be aware of. So always ask, what are they getting out of this? What do they have to gain? Next, determine where they're getting their information from. If you're listening to a speaker, you can always ask for their sources afterwards. And if it's something written, they should freely supply the sources. And if they don't, that's a big warning sign. Asking questions of a source shouldn't just end with the first person. Look deeper and ask, do the places they get their data from have an agenda? Are they varied in their sources? Is the source an authority or just someone offering an opinion. If you're looking at research, ask, was this ever published in a peer review journal? Finally, examine what is being said or written and try to find what's being overlooked, what issues are being raised, and more importantly, what issues are not being raised. Then, seek out varied sources that offer alternative views. If you're careful about checking the veracity of the information you're about to use you're going to have better information to work from and are much more likely to make better decisions and solve more problems. I encourage you to think about the last piece of information you heard. How did you know it was true? What questions could you ask to better analyze that information? See what you come up with.