The Study of Critical Thinking of Faculty Members in University of Medical Sciences in Mazandaran Province

The aim of this research was to study the critical thinking of faculty members of the mazandaran university of medical sciences and present suggestions according to the findings of this research to the educational planners of the university for developing teachers’ critical thinking.  The descriptive method was used for surveying the faculty members’ level of critical thinking, and for data analysis, ANOVA and T-test were applied.  The population of the study consisted of 200 male and female teachers who worked in five faculties of the university.  To select the research sample, statistical table of Krejcie-Morgan was applied and 132 subjects were selected randomly and categorized according to the sample size.  The Standard Test of California Critical Thinking (CCTST) was administered to the subjects in order to gather the required data.  The reliability and validity of the test had already been computed and approved by Facione, Khalili and Mehrinezhad in their research.  The result of this study showed that the total score of critical thinking of faculty members of the mazandaran university of medical sciences was 13.77 and there was no significant difference between the male and female faculty members in this regard. Among the faculties of the university, medical faculty had better critical thinking than the other faculties of the university with mean of 14.176, but there was no significant difference among faculties. The male faculty members were better in skills of analysis, inference and deductive reasoning; and the female faculty members were better in skills of evaluation and inductive reasoning, but there was no significant difference between them. Faculties of pharmacy were better in analytical skill. The paramedical faculty was better in evaluation skill. The medical faculty was better in inference and inductive skills. And finally, nursing faculty was better in deductive skill, but there was no statistically significant difference among them.