Question

1. Briefly share your thoughts as to why being aware of the existence of biases is important to critical thinking and necessary when doing research, when reviewing information, or when learning about the arguments of others.

Answer 1

The correct answer to this open question is the following.

When doing some kind of research, being aware of the existence of biases is very important to critical thinking in that any form of bias could distort the nature of the research, The same happens when scientists review information or decide to learn more about the arguments of others.

If researchers bias the information, it could be understood as if the researcher is manipulating the information or even worst, the results.

The process must be directed by the scientific method and the obligation of the researchers is to report the truth of the findings.

So ethics and high values must precede any research.

Furthermore, if biases are presented in the research, critical thinking can help to expose those biases and help the reader to identify them, explaining how this affects the process or the result of the research, inviting the reader to discern about the information exposed.