If you read through a few job descriptions, you’ll probably run into the term “inductive reasoning.” While this sounds like a high-level logic model, it’s actually something that you use every day to solve problems and make observations about the world around you. Show
In this article, you’ll learn about what inductive reasoning is and read some examples of it. You’ll also learn how to apply, improve, and showcase your inductive reasoning skills as well as understand the differences between inductive, deductive, and abductive reasoning. Key Takeaways
What Is Inductive Reasoning?Inductive reasoning is a way of thinking logically to make broad statements based on observations and experiences. Going from the specific to the general is at the core of inductive logic. Anytime you make a bigger picture generalization, it’s inductive reasoning. The catch with inductive reasoning is that it’s not fool-proof. Like any guessing logic, there’s a chance that your generalization is incorrect, but that doesn’t mean that inductive assumptions aren’t useful. Scientists use inductive reasoning all of the time to create hypotheses and test them with experiments. Without that generalized assumption based on a few observations, they wouldn’t even have a hypothesis to test. Creating these general conclusions is a great way to understand the world around you and start to make educated decisions, from simple tasks like where to eat, all the way to which company would make a better partner. Inductive reasoning follows this basic format — if you have four identical items and you know that three of them are orange, you can assume that the fourth is also orange. You’re going from a fact about a small group (three objects are orange) to a broader generalization that isn’t necessarily true (all four objects are orange), but likely is. Examples of Inductive ReasoningWe use inductive reasoning in our everyday lives all the time, but the concept can be tricky to understand. Let’s look at a few daily and professional examples of inductive reasoning to better understand it. In Daily Life
At Work
How Does Inductive Reasoning Work?Inductive reasoning starts when you make an observation and then create some kind of generalization based on what you observed. Since the assumption is based on observation and examples, there can be truth in your reasoning. Inductive reasoning can be especially helpful when you’re trying to make predictions or find trends. In both cases, you’re making a conclusion based on an observation of what has happened. Of course, your reasoning needs to be backed up by credible data in order to reach a rational conclusion, but using this logic can usually get you a good understanding of what’s going on. Imagine you need to boost sales for your company’s online store. You notice that a product that has customer reviews on the page sells more units than a product without customer reviews. The assumption you make is that products will sell better when there are customer reviews on the page, so you suggest to your boss to implement customer reviews on each product page to boost sales. This initial assumption may hold true, and looking at more products with and without customer reviews can help validate that generalized conclusion. Types of Inductive Reasoning
The Benefits and Limitations of Inductive ReasoningThere are many good times to use inductive reasoning in your personal and professional lives. Benefits
Limitations
How to Improve Your Inductive ReasoningWhile inductive reasoning is fairly intuitive, there are certain skills that can help you sharpen your logic and reasoning, especially for certain workplace situations. Here are a few skills you can focus on to build and improve your inductive reasoning.
Though inductive reasoning is not strictly a professional skill, being a strong reasoner can help you tremendously in your work. Think of inductive reasoning as a life skill. It’s broadly applicable in both your personal and professional lives, but it’s a necessary tool to have for navigating life in general. Now that you know what inductive reasoning is, you can be more aware of when you’re using it and sharpen your logical reasoning skills. How to Showcase Your Inductive Reasoning SkillsHiring managers and recruiters love to hire employees who can think through problems logically and arrive at sound decisions. Let’s look at a few ways to highlight your inductive reasoning skills during a job search:
Inductive vs. Deductive ReasoningOn the flip side of inductive reasoning is deductive reasoning. While inductive reasoning goes from the specific to the general, deductive reasoning goes from the general to the specific. Think of them as two sides of the same coin. Both are useful reasoning tactics, but they apply to different situations. A common understanding of deductive reasoning, also called a syllogism, includes two premises, a big one and a small one, then a logical conclusion. Using this logic, a big premise could be “A is the same as B” and a small premise could be “C is the same as A”, and you conclude that C is also B. Let’s look at a real-world example of deductive reasoning. Say you need to drive to the store to buy groceries. You know that it’s dangerous to drive in the snow and you also see that it’s currently snowing. From this, you deduce that it’s dangerous to drive right now and you might decide to wait until tomorrow to go grocery shopping. We use deductive reasoning every day to make decisions like these, including in professional settings. We’re so used to using both inductive and deductive reasoning that we usually don’t have to stop and think about which reasoning to use. Sometimes, however, you might want to stop and consider which reasoning will help you get to a better solution or conclusion. Think of it this way — if you want to go from something specific, like a monthly sales figure, to something general, like future sales strategies, you should think inductively. On the other hand, if you want to go from something general, like a theory, to a specific fact, deductive reasoning can help you get there. Inductive vs. Abductive ReasoningA third type of reasoning that is often confused with inductive or deductive reasoning is abductive reasoning. Abductive reasoning creates less reliable conclusions than the other two types because it takes the limited amount of information you have and creates an explanation for them that may or may not be true. While you shouldn’t fully rely on this reasoning to make decisions, it can be helpful for coming up with and testing solutions to problems you’re trying to solve. You may see detectives on TV shows use this type of reasoning to find and catch criminals and doctors in real life use it to diagnose patients. Here is an example of abductive reasoning: You come home to find your dog home alone with muddy paws. You also see dirty dishes in the sink that weren’t there when you left and decide that the best explanation is that your husband came home during his lunch break and let the dog out.
Never miss an opportunity that’s right for you. What kind of reasoning uses a general statement to make conclusions about specific examples?In Deductive reasoning, the process begins with a general statement to prove it with a logical conclusion. Inductive reasoning is often called a “bottom-up approach” because you start from an observation, detect patterns, formulate a hypothesis, and reach a conclusion/theory.
Which method of acquiring knowledge is being used when people make decisions based on instinct or hunches?Intuition (or blinking) typically refers to the use of knowledge that is not explicit and in popular culture might be described as a “hunch” or “women's intuition.”
Is the scientific method inductive or deductive?The scientific method can be described as deductive. You first formulate a hypothesis—an educated guess based on general premises (sometimes formed by inductive methods). Then you test the hypothesis with an experiment.
What is a statement that explains an observation?Hypothesis. A hypothesis is made to explain an observation. For a hypothesis to be scientific, it must be testable and it must be fasifiable.
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