Critical thinking and research skills as dimensions to cognitive competence in a research course

This paper explored the influences of critical thinking and research skills in attainment of student learning outcomes in a research course. In this paper, critical thinking and research skills are viewed as dimensions to cognitive competence. Results of the study showed that students perceived that among the research skills, they are good at gathering data. They also perceived that their thinking skill is best demonstrated at respecting the work of others. The researchers believed that those students who have acquired good critical thinking skills are also good in conducting research which becomes highly useful for them. However, there are a number of limitations that need to be considered such that further review is needed to elucidate the concept of cognitive competence in critical thinking and research skills dimensions. Although literature review showed that both critical thinking and research tasks are interrelated, more empirical research on their relationships is needed. Furthermore, while there was an initial validation to the instrument, it is necessary to further validate its content and reliability. Lastly, the same study may be conducted in other research classes and in various majors to have more vigorous studies to evaluate and compare results