What kind of reasoning is this?

Question

Researchers who conduct a study ... do they use deductive or inductive reasoning? I am not asking this because I am in school and want my homework done, I am asking because we are going to cover this in class and I honestly don't know. If the evidence supports the conclusion, would that be deductive?

Answer 1

It depends on how the evidence is presented and where the argument appears in the report.

If the argument appears at the beginning, then it is deductive -- the argument is presented first, then the evidence.

If the evidence is presented first, then the argument/conclusion at the end, it is inductive. This means the reader follows along to (supposedly) arrive at the same conclusion as the researcher.

Inductive and deductive reasoning are actually styles of writing and are often confused with objectivity and subjectivity. These are two entirely different things.

Answer 2

Deductive and inductive refer to two distinct logical processes. Deductive reasoning is a logical process in which a conclusion drawn from a set of premises contains no more information than the premises taken collectively. All dogs are animals; this is a dog; therefore, this is an animal: The truth of the conclusion is dependent only on the method. All men are apes; this is a man; therefore, this is an ape: The conclusion is logically true, although the premise is absurd. Inductive reasoning is a logical process in which a conclusion is proposed that contains more information than the observations or experience on which it is based. Every crow ever seen was black; all crows are black: The truth of the conclusion is verifiable only in terms of future experience and certainty is attainable only if all possible instances have been examined. In the example, there is no certainty that a white crow will not be found tomorrow, although past experience would make such an occurrence seem unlikely.

Answer 3

Inductive reasoning is not something a researcher would say they do. It's not wrong, it's just not a research tool, it's a purely mathematical tool. Deductive reasoning is what you would think... look at the facts and draw a conclusion. Inductive reasoning is when you take a logical statement and infer that a similar situation has the same result. Google mathematical induction for examples (they are not prone to yahoo blogging). Induction says a logical statement is true for an arbitrary set of values and thus is true for all values.

Answer 4

I agree with PoohP and others that inductive reasoning is not something a researcher would generally say they do, except for cases like this:
- if you stop someone in the street to ask them questions, and they pour gasoline all over you before reaching for a lighter, they are probably not someone you want to survey.

You can know this inductively since the last n people you met who behaved like this also set you on fire.

Answer 5

Researchers should be conducting deductive reasoning because it contains more factual evidence

Answer 6

Deductive Reasoning:
All animals have four legs. A dog has four legs. Therefore, all dogs are animals.

Inductive Reasoning:
All dogs are four legged animals. Therefore, all four legged animals are dogs.

Please don't swamp me with definitions of the word "Animal".

Answer 7

both are good means depending on what you're studying and/or how u want to present your results

Answer 8

check dictionary.com