In recent years many critics have argued that intercollegiate debating has lost touch with its educational goals. One of the most extensively documented benefits of the debate activity is the enhancement of critical thinking abilities. Differences over how to achieve the educational benefits were, in part, responsible for the division of the debate community into two separate organizations, the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) and The National Debate Tournament (NDT). The purpose of this study was to determine if CEDA debaters, NDT debaters, and nondebaters differ significantly on the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal. / The total sample for this study was 285 with 146 debaters and 139 nondebaters. The subjects consisted of undergraduate students at eight colleges or universities. The experimental group consisted of students who participated in either CEDA or NDT debate during the experimental period. The control group consisted of students who did not participate in debate during or prior to the experimental period. / Four hypotheses were tested: (1) There is no significant difference between the scores on the critical thinking appraisal between debaters and nondebaters; (2) There is no significant difference between the scores on the critical thinking appraisal between CEDA debaters and NDT debaters; (3) There is no significant difference between the scores on the critical thinking appraisal between CEDA debaters and nondebaters; and (4) There is no significant difference on the critical thinking appraisal between NDT debaters and nondebaters. / A descriptive analysis revealed CEDA and NDT debaters combined or individually outscored the nondebaters on critical thinking scores. NDT debaters had the highest mean score gain, CEDA debaters had the second highest mean score gain, and the nondebate group had the lowest mean gain. An analysis of covariance using the pretest as the covariate supported the rejection of all four null hypotheses. This research suggest debaters outscore nondebaters and that CEDA and NDT may differ significantly from each other on the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-08, Section: A, page: 2994. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75903 |
| Contributors | COLBERT, KENT R., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 169 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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