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| Introduction | |
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| Foundations | |
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| What Kind of Archaeology Is It? | |
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| Descriptions of the aim of archaeology | |
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| Two missteps: flatland modernism and skeptical postmodernism | |
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| The tasks of archaeology from a four quadrants perspective | |
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| Cultural resource management | |
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| What is the aim of archaeology? | |
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| What Kind of Investigation Is It? | |
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| The research cycle | |
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| Investigations within the research cycle | |
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| Additional considerations | |
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| What Are the Issue and the Claim? | |
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| What is the issue? | |
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| What is the claim? | |
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| Thinking critically about questions | |
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| What is the historical context of the issue and claim? | |
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| What Is the Argument? | |
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| Is there an argument? Why is it necessary to evaluate arguments? | |
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| Is it a good argument? | |
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| A checklist for evaluating arguments | |
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| Evaluating arguments fairly | |
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| What Are the Assumptions? | |
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| Types of assumptions and their function in arguments | |
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| Hints for locating assumptions | |
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| Research programs: an introduction | |
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| Is the Writing Clear? | |
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| Organization and style | |
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| Ambiguous words and phrases | |
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| Spotting ambiguities | |
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| Clarifying ambiguity | |
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| Vague claims and puzzling comparisons | |
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| Unfamiliar words and phrases | |
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| Are (Deceptive) Rhetorical Devices Used? | |
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| Euphemisms and dysphemisms | |
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| Persuasive comparisons, definitions, and explanations | |
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| Stereotypes, innuendo, and loaded questions | |
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| Weaselers, downplayers, and sarcasm | |
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| Hyperbole and proof surrogates | |
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| Is There a Fallacy in the Reasoning? | |
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| Errors in reasoning | |
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| Fallacies that violate the relevance criterion | |
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| Fallacies that violate the acceptability criterion | |
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| Fallacies that violate the sufficiency criterion | |
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| Fallacies that violate the rebuttal criterion | |
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| Are There Skeptical Postmodern Themes in the Argument? | |
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| Unmasking the foundations of science | |
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| The influence of postmodernism in scholarly research | |
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| Six responses to skeptical postmodernism | |
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| From Observations to Population Estimates | |
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| Are Facts Clearly Distinguished from Opinions and Other Claims? | |
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| How factual are factual claims? | |
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| The credibility of evidence | |
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| Recognizing factual claims in your reading | |
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| Major kinds of evidence | |
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| Intuition, authority, and testimonials | |
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| Personal observation, case studies, and analogies | |
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| Research studies as evidence | |
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| How Are the Observations Summarized? | |
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| What are data? | |
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| Tabular and pictorial methods of displaying data | |
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| Measures of position: the average | |
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| Measures of variability: the spread | |
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| Is There an Inductive Argument? | |
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| Deductive and inductive arguments | |
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| Inductive generalizations | |
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| Analogical arguments | |
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| Fallacies of inductive reasoning | |
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| Is There a Population Estimate from a Sample? | |
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| Statistical inference | |
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| Hypothesis testing | |
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| An example of formal hypothesis testing | |
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| Interpreting the Archaeological Record | |
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| Is There a Theory in My Reading? | |
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| Making sense of the archaeological record | |
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| Two views of the structure of a theory | |
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| The empiricism-social constructivism-scientific realism dispute | |
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| Which Research Program Is My Reading an Example Of? | |
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| Trait-centered archaeology | |
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| Systems-centered archaeology | |
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| Agency-centered archaeology | |
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| Integral archaeology | |
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| Must archaeologists work within a single research program? | |
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| Is an Explanation Offered? | |
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| Identifying explanations | |
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| Three targets of explanation in archaeology | |
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| Argument to the best explanation | |
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| Common errors in framing explanations | |
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| Using an analogy to explain | |
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| Is There a Causal Argument? | |
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| Causation among specific events | |
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| Common mistakes in causal reasoning | |
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| Causation in populations | |
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| Use of anecdotal evidence in causal reasoning | |
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| Evaluating Interpretations of the Archaeological Record | |
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| Are Deductively Valid Conclusions Drawn? | |
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| Deductive versus inductive strength of arguments | |
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| Some common patterns of deductive arguments | |
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| An example of deductive reasoning in archaeology | |
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| Are Concepts Given Archaeological Interpretations? | |
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| Preparing predictions for testing | |
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| The reliability and validity of indicators | |
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| Evaluating archaeological indicators | |
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| Are the Conclusions Reasonable? | |
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| Are the conclusions true? | |
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| Assessing the truth value of conclusions: a four-step approach | |
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| Common errors in drawing conclusions | |
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| Remember: The research cycle is a cycle | |
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| Coda: Is Critical Reading Worth the Effort? | |
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| Notes | |
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| Bibliography | |
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| Index | |
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| About the Author | |