A Comparative Analysis and Phenomenological Study: The Relationship between Critical Thinking and Women's Lived Critical Multicultural Experiences
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abstract
This study explored the relationship between women's critical multicultural experiences and the ability to think critically. The method for the collection of womens stories as well as the analysis of critical thinking ability included online and virtual discussions, participant feedback, and critical thinking assessment results (Paul, Elder & Cosgrove, 2016). Participants comprised women (N = 10) enrolled in an online global, multicultural leadership course. The collection, analysis, integration, and reporting of women's stories, as well as the discussion and feedback about the International Critical Thinking Basic Concepts Test (ICTBCT) scores, helped to identify phenomenological relationships between multicultural experiences and a womans ability to think critically. This study utilized a quantitative analysis using SPSS, as well as, a qualitative analytic coding process within Atlas.ti which supports theoretical, inductive, deductive and interpretive oriented analysis. The phenomenological research informed womens Ways of Knowing (WOK) about critical multiculturalism and their ability to think critically. The phenomenological data analysis in this study explored the relationship of womens critical multicultural experiences (what as textural descriptions and how as structural descriptions) and the ability to think critically. The process of interpreting data allowed linking identified themes between womens critical multicultural experiences (what) and the process of demonstrating how women moved through the five stages of Womens Ways of Knowing (WOK) to become critical thinkers (Belenky, 1997). The procedures included qualitative and quantitive methods (related and interpreted) combining both real-time and sequential elements within a fixed mixed-method study (Creswell, Plano 2011). Refer to Appendix C diagram of developed method design. This study identified a clear pattern of women moving through varying stages of Knowing; from Silenced Knowing to Constructed Knowing while developing critical thought, statistically evidenced by textural descriptions expunged from the sharing of their critical multicultural experiences.
