Humanities Homework Help

“Critical Thinking and Sociological Theories” Please respond to one (1) of the following:

• Review the
  six (6) rules of critical thinking discussed on pages 8 and 9 in the
  textbook. Determine the rule that you believe to be the most challenging
  and provide a rationale for your response.To think critically, it is useful to follow six simple rules (adapted from Wade & Tavris, 1997):
  To
  think critically, it is useful to follow six simple rules (adapted from
  Wade & Tavris, 1997):
  Be willing to ask any question, no matter how difficult. The belief
  in small government is a cherished U.S. ideal. But sociologists who
  study the role of government in modern society must be willing to ask
  whether there are circumstances under which more—not less—government is
  better. Government’s role in areas such as homeland security, education,
  and health care has grown in the past several years—what are the
  positive and negative aspects of this growth?
  Think logically and be clear. Logic and clarity require us to define
  concepts in a way that allows us to study them. “Big government” is a
  vague concept that must be made more precise and measurable before it
  provides for useful research. Are we speaking of federal, state, or
  local government, or all of these? Is “big” measured by the cost of
  government services, the number of agencies or offices within the
  government, the number of people working for it, or something else? What
  did Jefferson mean by “best,” and what would that “best” government
  look like? Who would have the power to define this notion in any case?
  Back up your arguments with evidence. Founding Father Thomas
  Jefferson is a formidable person to quote, but quoting him does not
  prove that smaller government is better in the 21st century. To find
  evidence, we need to seek out studies of contemporary societies to see
  whether there is a relationship between a population’s well-being and
  the size of government or the breadth of services it provides. Because
  studies may offer contradictory evidence, we also need to be able to
  assess the strengths and weaknesses of arguments on different sides of
  the issue.
  Think about the assumptions and biases—including your own—that
  underlie all studies. You may insist that government has a key role to
  play in modern society. On the other hand, you may believe with equal
  passion that big government is one root of the problems in the United
  States. Critical thinking, however, requires that we recognize our
  beliefs and biases. Otherwise we might unconsciously seek out only
  evidence that supports our argument, ignoring evidence to the contrary.
  Passion has a role to play in research: It can motivate us to devote
  long hours to studying an issue. But passion should not play a role when
  we are weighing evidence and drawing conclusions.
  Avoid anecdotal evidence. It is tempting to draw a general
  conclusion from a single experience or anecdote, but that experience may
  illustrate the exception rather than the rule. For example, you may
  know someone who just yesterday received a letter mailed 2 years ago,
  but that is not evidence that the U.S. Postal Service is inefficient or
  does not fulfill its mandates. To determine whether this government
  agency is working well, you would have to study its entire mail delivery
  system and its record of work over time.
  Be willing to admit when you are wrong or uncertain about your
  results. Sometimes we expect to find support for an argument only to
  find that things are not so clear. For example, consider the position of
  a sociologist who advocates small government and learns that Japan and
  Singapore initially became economic powerhouses because their
  governments played leading roles in promoting growth of a sociologist
  who champions an expanded role for government but learns from the
  downturn of the 1990s in the Asian economies that some things can be
  better achieved by private enterprise. The answers we get are sometimes
  contradictory, and we learn from recognizing the error of our
  assumptions and beliefs as well.