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In order to use deductive reasoning, you have to have a theory to begin with. :) What is Deductive Reasoning? The method behind deductive reasoning But those things are a bit out of the scope of this beginner's guide. You can also look into the two main methods of inductive reasoning, enumerative and eliminative. If you want to dig deeper into inductive reasoning, look into the three different types – generalization, analogy, and causal inference. You'd want to make sure you looked at Corgis from all walks of life and of all ages. Or show Corgis (theoretically they're better trained). So, for example, don't just study Corgi puppies (cute as they may be). Second, make sure you're taking a random and representative sample of the population you're studying. Again, thousands of Corgis are better than four (I mean, always, amiright?). The larger your sample size, the stronger (and more certain/conclusive) your results will be. If you want to make sure your inductive arguments are as strong as possible, there are a couple things you can do.įirst of all, make sure you have a large data set to work with.
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How to make your inductive arguments stronger Still, even if the premises of your argument are true, and that means that your conclusion is probably true, or likely true, or true much of the time – it's not certain.Īnd – weirdly enough – your conclusion can still be false even if all your premises are true (my Corgis were stubborn, my neighbor's corgis were stubborn, perhaps a friend's Corgis and the Queen of England's Corgis were stubborn.but that doesn't guarantee that all Corgis are stubborn). And that argument becomes cogent if the conclusion ends up being true.
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You can have a strong argument (if your premise(s) are true, meaning your conclusion is probably true). Let's talk about the language we use to describe inductive arguments and conclusions. What can you conclude with inductive reasoning?Īs I just discussed, one of the main things to know about inductive reasoning is that any conclusions you make from inductive research will not be 100% certain or confirmed. So, as you can see, I can make a general statement about Corgis being stubborn, but I can't say that ALL of them are. Because what if 10 of them were extremely well-behaved and obedient? Or what if the 1001st Corgi was? If I was able to observe the behavior of 1000 Corgis (omg that would be amazing), my conclusion would be stronger – but still not certain.
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Since I only have a small amount of data, my conclusion or theory will be quite weak. Theory: All Welsh Corgis are incredibly stubborn and independent (general statement about the behavior of Corgis).Īs you can see, I'm basing my theory on my observations of the behavior of a number of Corgis.
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Observation (premise): My neighbor's Corgis are the same way (another specific observation of behavior). Observation (premise): My Welsh Corgis were incredibly stubborn and independent (specific observation of behavior). Here's an example of an inductive argument: Some people like to think of it as a "bottom up" approach (meaning you're starting at the bottom with the info and are going up to the top where the theory forms). You can think of this process as a reverse funnel – starting with more specifics and getting broader as you reach your conclusions (theory). What does the inductive reasoning process look like? So you're starting with some more specific information (what you've seen/heard) and you're using it to form a more general theory about the way things are. Inductive reasoning helps you take these observations and form them into a theory. You gather information - from talking to people, reading old newspapers, observing people, animals, or objects in their natural habitat, and so on. When you're using inductive reasoning to conduct research, you're basing your conclusions off your observations. What is Inductive Reasoning? The method behind inductive reasoning We'll answer those questions and give you some examples of both types of reasoning in this article. So what's the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning, when should you use each method, and is one better than the other? Two of those methods are inductive and deductive reasoning. If you're conducting research on a topic, you'll use various strategies and methods to gather information and come to a conclusion.