University of Minnesota, Twin Cities School of Social Work SW 8361 Identification & Assessment of Family Violence Fall 2012

Jane F. Gilgun, Ph.D., LICSW Checklist for Assessments of Definitions

___The definition explains the meanings of the term. ___ The definitions shows more than one dimension of the meaning of the term. ___The definition shows that there can be more than one meaning attached to the term. ___ The definition does not include the term that is being defined. ___ The definition shows what the term means and does not mean. ___ The definition is written in every day language. ___ The definition is both conceptual and operational. [This means that the definition includes a general statement about what the word means and then provides one or more examples of the general statement.] ___ The definition is a work in progress, or a working definition. [A working definition is one that users know do not contain all that everyone else says is part of the meaning of the term. It is a definition that users believe is useful for their purposes and that they will add to as they work on their projects.] Note: This exercise is to formalize bits and pieces of what it means to be a critical thinker. A critical thinker has at the minimum a working definition of terms. Working definitions mean that the users understand that their definitions are incomplete and require further delineation.