The CCTDI measures the "willing" dimension in the expression "willing and able" to think critically. A person may be disposed toward truthseeking or bias, toward open-mindedness or intolerance, toward anticipating possible consequences or being heedless of them, toward proceeding in a systematic or unsystematic way, toward being confident in the powers of reasoning or mistrustful of thinking, toward being inquisitive or resistant to learning, and toward mature and nuanced judgment or toward rigid simplistic thinking. The CCTDI measures these characterological attributes and its scale scores profile the survey respondent on these seven dimensions.

The CCTDI is designed for use with the general adult population including workers and working professionals at all levels and students in grades 10 and above, including undergraduates, technical and professional school students, and graduate students. In English or one of its many authorized translations, the CCTDI has been used to gather information about job and program applicants, to inform academic advising and personnel training programs, and in projects such as learning outcomes assessment, program evaluation, and psychological research. With the CCTDI one can gather data on an individual's critical thinking dispositional profile and on the critical thinking dispositions of groups.

The CCTDI invites respondents to indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree with 75 statements expressing beliefs, values, attitudes and intentions that relate to the reflective formation of reasoned judgments. The CCTDI can be administered in 20 minutes.

Qualified purchasers may examine the CCTDI by ordering a Specimen Kit. The CCTDI is based on the expert consensus characterization of the "ideal critical thinker" articulated in the APA Delphi Report.