Disposition, critical thinking skills and academic success in university students: meta-analysis
Publicated to:Revista Complutense De Educacion. 32 (4): 525-536 - 2021-01-01 32(4), DOI: 10.5209/rced.70748
Authors: Canto, Yordanis Enriquez; Ferrer, Esteban Zapater; Gervasi, Giovani Martin Diaz
Affiliations
Abstract
Introduction: critical thinking is among the main soft skills related to academic success and highly demanded in the workplace. The objective was to make a meta-analysis of observational studies on the relationship between disposition, critical thinking skills and academic success in university students. Methods: a systematic review with meta-analysis of random effects following the guidelines for observational studies. Searches were conducted using MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus and Cochrane Library. The methodological quality was evaluated with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale version. Heterogeneity was estimated, Cochran's Q test was used, the publication bias with the funnel plot and Begg's test. Were performed sensitivity analyzes and forest plot diagrams. Results: 6756 studies were identified, 32 corresponded to the inclusion criteria with 4962 participants, 30 were meta-analyzed. Critical thinking and academic success were positively correlated: r=.26 (CI: 95%; .18-.34) (p=.00), with a high heterogeneity (I2=86.5%). In the subgroup analysis, significant differences were observed for the following moderators: specialty Q=42.86 (p=.00), number of dimensions Q=31.83 (p=.00), instruments Q=56.01 (p=.00), dimensions evaluated Q=25.09 (p=.00). Discussion: the magnitude of the correlation was weak and affected by moderators such as the study specialty, the instrument used, the evaluation of skills versus dispositions and the number of dimensions evaluated.
Keywords
Quality index
Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel
The work has been published in the journal Revista Complutense De Educacion due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2021, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q2 (Segundo Cuartil), in the category Education.
From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from the Field Citation Ratio (FCR) of the Dimensions source, it yields a value of: 2.55, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)
Impact and social visibility
Leadership analysis of institutional authors
This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Peru.