Analytical skill

Analytical skill is the ability to use critical thinking and problem-solving skills in order to find a solution or complete an exercise. Analytical skill is defined as the ability to visualize, articulate, conceptualize or solve both complex and uncomplicated problems by making decisions that are sensible given the available information[1]. Such skills include demonstration of the ability to apply logical thinking to breaking complex problems into their component parts. Analytical skill is a misnomer as there are many different types of analytical skill, riding a bike is an analytical skill, carpentry is also, yet these two activities appear to have very little in common. The common thread, "analytical skill", is that both require an analysis of the environment and the ability to take the information gathered in this analysis and use it to complete the desired task.

Riding a bike requires balance and a rudimentary understanding of physics, but most of all it requires analytical skill. The ability to take information and put it to use in your task is key, as one is riding they are watching for obstacles, planning when and how they will turn, estimating speed and judging distance to their destination. The ability to compile the information available and use it to complete the goal of getting from "point A" to "point B" is an example of analytical skill.

Riding a bike is something one can learn about in a classroom or by reading a book, but in order to develop the analytical skill necessary to be successful at it one must practice and experience riding. The same can be said of many things in life and many careers, carpentry for example is a career one can learn by attending school. In such a school they will have classrooms where they teach students about proper construction techniques and how to read blueprints. But, these schools also have classrooms where the students practice reading blueprints and building according to the blueprint, this is done because carpentry is an analytical skill that requires an advanced ability to not only use the tools provided (hammer, nails, tape measure, etc.) but to conceptualize an end result based on a two-dimensional drawing.

This point is perfectly illustrated in 1999 by Richard J. Heuer Jr., "Thinking analytically is a skill like carpentry or driving a car. It can be taught, it can be learned, and it can improve with practice. But like many other skills, such as riding a bike, it is not learned by sitting in a classroom and being told how to do it. Analysts learn by doing."[1] But bike riding, carpentry and skilled trades aren't the only application of analytical skill, IT positions can also require a high degree of the problem-solving and critical thinking skills encompassed in analytical skill.[2]

In the article by Freed[3] the need for programs within the educational system to help students develop this/these skill(s). "According to scholars, workers 'will need more than elementary basic skills to maintain the standard of living of their parents. They will have to think for a living, analyze problems and solutions, and work cooperatively in teams' (Thoughtful Teachers, Thoughtful Schools 1998, xi)."[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Analytical skill". Wikipedia. 2 January 2018
  2. ↑ Tang, Rong; Sae-Lim, Watinee (28 July 2016). "Data science programs in U.S. higher education: An exploratory content analysis of program description, curriculum structure, and course focus". Education for Information. 32 (3): 269–290. doi:10.3233/EFI-160977.
  3. 1 2 Freed, Craig; Pena, Robert (2000). "Minority Education and Analytical Thinking Skills: Traditionalizing Disempowerment". The High School Journal. 85 (2): 24–32. doi:10.1353/hsj.2001.0022.

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Further references

  • Briceland, Alan V. (February 1981). "The Group-Task Approach: Developing Analytical Skills in the United States History Survey". The History Teacher. Society for History Education. 14 (2): 191–207. doi:10.2307/493262. JSTOR 493262.


  1. ↑ "Analytical skill". Wikipedia. 2 January 2018.
  2. ↑ Canhoto, Ana Isabel; Clark, Moira; Fennemore, Paul (August 2013). "Emerging segmentation practices in the age of the social customer". Journal of Strategic Marketing. 21 (5): 413–428. doi:10.1080/0965254X.2013.801609.
  3. ↑ Freed, Craig; Pena, Robert (2000). "Minority Education and Analytical Thinking Skills: Traditionalizing Disempowerment". The High School Journal. 85 (2): 24–32. doi:10.1353/hsj.2001.0022.
  4. ↑ Tang, Rong; Sae-Lim, Watinee (28 July 2016). "Data science programs in U.S. higher education: An exploratory content analysis of program description, curriculum structure, and course focus". Education for Information. 32 (3): 269–290. doi:10.3233/EFI-160977.
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