Cognitive biases
Questionnaire for Critically Evaluating an Expert's Advice
Counters the tendency to blindly accept expert opinion by prompting a critical and independent.
When a client’s progress is blocked by an expert’s opinion, they can feel obligated to follow advice that conflicts with their own intuition. Whether from a doctor, financial planner, or popular author, this deference to authority can create a frustrating conflict, leaving the client stuck between their own judgment and the expert’s standing.
This directive gives the client a structured process to evaluate the advice itself, separate from the source. It prompts them to apply their own context and critical thinking to the recommendation. The client walks away with a clear, well-considered rationale for their decision, able to integrate what is useful and confidently set aside what is not.
Questionnaire for Critically Evaluating an Expert's Advice
Consider a specific piece of advice you have received from an expert, a book, or another authority figure. Use the following questions to evaluate it. Write your answers.
Section 1: The Advice and Its Source
What is the exact advice you received?
Who is the person or organization that gave this advice?
What are their credentials or claimed expertise?
Does this source have anything to gain financially or reputationally if you follow their advice? If so, what?
What are the core beliefs or principles that seem to drive this source’s perspective?
Section 2: The Content of the Advice
What evidence was provided to support this advice? (e.g., research data, anecdotes, personal experience)
What are the unstated assumptions this advice makes about you, your situation, or the world in general?
What are the potential risks, costs, or negative outcomes of following this advice?
Can you find other credible experts who offer conflicting advice? What is their alternative view?
Does the advice offer a single solution for everyone, or does it account for individual differences?
Section 3: Your Personal Context
How does this advice align or conflict with your own values?
In what specific ways does your personal situation differ from the general audience this advice seems to target?
What would you need to start doing, stop doing, or change in your life to implement this advice?
If you were to completely ignore this advice, what is the most likely outcome?
Stripping away the “expert” label from the source, what does your own intuition or experience tell you about this advice?
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