Critical thinking

Critical thinking to me is thinking clearly, rationally and open minded.  
Yes I have heard of this term before in a couple of my classes, psychosocial, biomedical ethics, sociology, math, English, and intercultural class. Also other courses I took while I was in nursing school.
 According to an article by the creative and critical thinking assessing the foundations of the liberal arts education, Critical thinking has long been a concern of American education.  John Dewey identified learning to think” as a primary purpose of education in 1933. Critical thinking as defined by John Dowey is, “Active, persistent and careful consideration of a belief or supposed form of knowledge in light of the grounds that support it, and the further conclusions to which it tends.” http://www3.wooster.edu/teagle/critical.php
I think he does identify a particular process that one must engage in to think critically. By his definition it involves an active persistent and careful consideration of beliefs.
To me the connection between critical thinking and IM 204 Research Strategies is that in IM 204 we will be dealing with different populations. And one has to think carefully before addressing all these populations. One has to be open minded and not biased.