Critical analysis

What is it?

Critical analysis is the in-depth examination of an argument, situation, or problem, once it has been broken down into different parts. We critically analyse things for many reasons, such as checking for accuracy, forming our own opinions, understanding and improving a situation or process, solving problems, and making decisions. To do this, we use analytical thinking skills.

When we critically analyse an argument, situation, or problem, we examine the components of information, which might be in the form of text, numbers, images, or procedures. We systematically break down and interpret these components, examining them individually and looking at the relationships between them. The insights gained from this process give us the understanding we need to then critically evaluate the whole. This is called analytical thinking.

Critical analysis is one step in a critical thinking process which includes first gathering information, then critically analysing and evaluating it, and then making a decision.

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Critical analysis at university

Whatever you’re studying, analytical skills will be highly beneficial at university. Through analysis, you gain the information you need to evaluate information, which leads to deeper understanding.

Depending on your discipline, you might need to analyse things like:

• literature
• speeches
• statistics
• scientific data
• legal case studies
• historical events
• political policies
• mathematical theorems.

You’ll use critical analysis in your assessments, whether they’re essays, reports, reviews, proposals, research articles, reflective tasks, presentations, or portfolios.

When reading or writing about other people’s theories and arguments, you’ll likely need to complete an argument analysis. This involves examining the structure, validity, and effectiveness of arguments presented in various forms of discourse (like essays, academic articles, interviews, marketing copy, and speeches).

Critical analysis in the workplace

Employers specifically look for candidates with analytical skills because they need to know employees can use clear and logical thinking to resolve conflicts. Some industries even have specific, structured analyses that professionals in those fields need to understand in order to do their jobs, such as a cost analysis, risk analysis, or environmental impact analysis.

Here are some examples of the type of critical analyses professionals in different industries might need to do:

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Starting your analysis: identifying the component parts

Component parts refer to the separate elements of an argument, situation, or problem. This might include the evidence provided, the people involved, the weather, market fluctuations, or any number of other characteristics of the situation you’re examining. If you don’t identify all the parts, you risk ignoring a critical element when you form your opinion or offer a solution.

Critically analysing an argument

When you come across an argument, you might immediately have an opinion. However, in order for you to get a comprehensive understanding of the accuracy of the argument, and explain your logic to others, you first need to critically analyse the argument by looking at its component parts.

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To learn more about argument analysis, check out this tutorial on RMIT Learning Lab which includes pages on the key steps to analysing an argument, identifying strong and weak evidence and persuasive language techniques, and includes examples of argument analyses.

Critically analysing a process

Breaking something down into its component parts isn’t just used for arguments. We can also use it to analyse problems and find the root causes of issues with processes and services.

Here’s an example:

Sarawut, a nutrition consultant, has been hired by an aged care facility to review their nutritional assessment process. There are concerns that the current process isn’t adequately addressing the individual dietary needs of residents and may be negatively affecting wellbeing and nutrition.

Sarawut’s task is to provide advice on how the facility can improve the process to meet the specific needs of the residents and promote good health. Before he can offer any recommendations, he needs to find the flaws in the process. Here are some of the component parts that Sarawut plans to analyse:

1. Current assessment procedures: Sarawut will review how nutritional assessments for residents entering the facility have been conducted up until now. He’ll consider how comprehensive the information is and whether it meets public health guidelines. He’ll examine the initial procedures to see where there may be flaws.
2. Tools used to assess nutrition: He will consider the tools they use to screen nutrition, how sensitive they are, check that they’re working properly, are well maintained and modern. This will help him understand whether the staff have accurate information about the nutritional health of the residents.
3. Current dietary plan procedures: These plans are formulated for residents based on their initial assessment, so if the assessment is flawed, the dietary plans are, too. Sarawut will investigate how the plans are developed and the level of personalisation and research that goes into them. He’ll also consider how often those plans are monitored or updated.
4. Staff awareness and training: It’s the staff members who carry out the process that Sarawut is analysing and improving. He needs to check their understanding of the assessment process, make sure they’ve received adequate training, and find out how well equipped they are to address the nutritional concerns of the residents.
5. Communication between health professionals: It’s important for Sarawut to evaluate the communication between staff at the facility. Are they sharing relevant information regarding the residents’ health and nutrition through the right channels? A breakdown in communication about a resident’s health could have serious consequences.

Now that you know how thinking analytically can help identify problems in a process or service, check out the case study below, which demonstrates how this approach can lead to innovative solutions.

Reflect on your own analytical thinking

As we mentioned at the start of this page, critical analysis is an important step in a critical thinking process. To continue building your skills check out the following page in this chapter to learn about the next step: evaluating information critically.

This page includes content adapted from Analytical Thinking by OpenStax (original) and Kristin Conlin, licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, except where otherwise noted.