So, what is critical analysis?

Welcome to the first content blog of 2021. Let’s start the heavy stuff, shall we?! Critical analysis is something you’ll all be starting to work on now, if you haven’t been already, it’s something we expect from you by the time you hit Stage 2 or 3, so if you’ve not got to grips with this yet, now is the time.

There will be several posts relating to critical analysis – this is just the first of these. There are lots of resources and some brilliant videos out there to help you make sense of it; I’ll post links to those in some later blogs. For now, we’re just going to start with understanding it, the basics of how to do it, and you’re all going to realise you can already do it!

Did you know, that every single one of you can already critically analyse things, you just don’t think you can. A little later I will prove that to you.

Green chalkboard with scales and a head containing a question mark, with the words critical analysis written above. Google Images: various sources

Being ‘Critical’

The word ‘critical’ appears in many phrases during your studies, the things you’re asked to and the questions you’re asked to answer. Some common phrases you will see:

• Critical argument
• Critical analysis
• Critical synthesis
• Critical discussion

They are all asking you to do the same thing, but with a slightly different emphasis. Let’s go through them again:

• Critical argument: a detailed and objective, balanced argument
• Critical analysis: a detailed and objective analysis of something specific
• Critical synthesis: a detailed and objective discussion of something specific that is well linked together as a coherent whole
  • Ideally everything you write will do this, but when synthesis is mentioned you want to make extra sure you’ve got this covered. There will be a post on synthesis later on this term.
• Critical discussion: a detailed and objective discussion of a topic

Can you see the common theme? That’s right – detailed and objective. If you look at something in detail, you have to consider many different possibilities and you cannot simply take it at face value. And when you are writing your work, you should always be objective, and this means not letting personal opinion and biases in on your argument. Steer clear of any preconceptions and make sure you let the evidence do the talking.

In my book (Study and Communication Skills for Psychology) I describe basic critical analysis as covering the 3 C’s: consensus, contradiction, and connectivity.

• Consensus – where is there agreement?
• Contradiction – where is there disagreement?
• Connectivity – where (and how) does it all link up and fit together?

Blue splat with ‘the 3 C’s of critical analysis (Parson, 2018) on, generated for this blog

Critical analysis is a very big and complicated method, and there are many different elements. But at its core, it’s really easy to do – you’re looking at something in detail and finding the nuances and complexities, then sharing those with the reader. You’re communicating how well you understand something and how material fits together into the wider whole of the topic area.

This can be done in many ways, so and we’ll focus in on the fact that normally you’re reading multiple texts or papers. When you’ve got your papers and texts on the same subject together, read them all, then it’s time to look at them altogether, not one at a time. Think about the following:

• Consensus
  • Look at where the papers and texts agree
    • Things they say that are the same
    • Similar themes
    • Similar conclusions
    • Similar methods
  • Look at where the papers and texts agree with the theories in that area
• Contradiction
  • Look at where the papers and texts disagree (this happens a lot in most areas, academics are very good at having different ideas!)
    • Things they say that are different
    • Different ideas about how something works or fits together
    • Different conclusions from similar data or analyses
    • Different methods (with similar conclusions – always an interesting one)
  • Look at where the papers and texts disagree with the theories in the area
• Connectivity
  • Look at how the ideas in the papers and texts fit together
    • Everyone has something to contribute so if they are all right (which is possible) then how do you reconcile these different ideas and fit it all together into a big whole picture
      • This is where a mind map comes in really useful
  • Look at how these ideas fit into the wider theoretical base for the topic within your subject that you’re looking at.

Why some people find critical analysis difficult:

• They think they can’t (you might not be very good, but you still can)
• They forget to do the reading
• They look at papers and texts individually and never compare them
• They forget that an essay is not a series of statements, that it all has to fit together
• They forget to discuss the points and end up listing things so links are never made
• They assume the reader will put it all together in their own head.
  • Which they might, but they will have no idea if you know the connections or not!

If you look at the information you have as a whole big unit, and not as a list of individual things to look at, then you will do much better in critical analysis. We’ll cover more in later posts, but for now, remember that everything you read is part of a bigger picture – your job with critical analysis is to describe that bigger picture in relation to whichever question you are answering, and in as much detail as possible.

What critical analysis isn’t

It is absolutely not criticising something and pointing out all the flaws in a study, theory, idea, concept etc. You might want to compare methods and explain why one is better than another, or you might want to contrast two theories and emphasise which has the most evidence, but you can do all that within contradictions. There is never a need to resort to criticising what you read.

This applies to your own work as well. If you need to add critical analysis to your reports in the form of limitations – start from the perspective that what you did was ok, and then look deeper for wider issues that might need to be considered. Don’t just say something is rubbish, that’s being rude, it’s not critical analysis.

My Top Tip

Read, read and read some more. Unless you understand the area, have read about the theories and experiments that others have done, you can’t critically analyse. The more you read in the area, the easier critical analysis will be.

Image of a dog with a cat on its head, and the words ‘got my thinking cat on’. Google Images: various sources

Now, for your activity – you really can all critically analyse, so now is the time to prove it to you.

What you’re going to have a go at now is to critically analyse a favourite TV show, film franchise or book. This could be Killing Eve, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, His Dark Materials, Dr Who, anything you like as long as it has a story spread over multiple episodes/series.

Now, answer these questions in your head right now:

• Can you explain the story to me?
• Can you describe how the characters relate to each other?
• Can you describe how the latest episode you watched fits into the series as a whole?
• Can you describe the general plot and what roles the characters have in that plot?
• Can you hypothesise (predict) where things might go for the characters and/or plot in future episodes?
  • What will happen next?
  • Why do you think that?
  • What is your evidence for that?

All of that is critical analysis. Now, go and do that, and in as much detail as you wish.

For anyone who writes fanfic, this should be easy, for everyone else, I recommend doing this, even if you’re busy with your studies. It will give you a good break and it really is a good contribution to your studies (I have a slightly mad approach to teaching sometimes, and while I do have a tendency to go off on a few tangents at times, but my methods usually work pretty well.)

Give it a shot! Obviously, if you have to watch an episode to get your memory refreshed, then I absolutely recommend that too!