Deductive Reasoning Versus Inductive Reasoning

By Ashley Crossman

http://sociology.about.com/od/Research/a/Deductive-Reasoning-Versus-Inductive-
Reasoning.htm 23/8/14
 
In science, there are two ways of arriving at a conclusion: deductive reasoning and
inductive reasoning.

Deductive Reasoning

Deductive reasoning happens when a researcher works from the more general
information to the more specific. Sometimes this is called the “top-down” approach
because the researcher starts at the top with a very broad spectrum of information
and they work their way down to a specific conclusion. For instance, a researcher
might begin with a theory about his or her topic of interest. From there, he or she
would narrow that down into more specific hypotheses that can be tested. The
hypotheses are then narrowed down even further when observations are collected to
test the hypotheses. This ultimately leads the researcher to be able to test the
hypotheses with specific data, leading to a confirmation (or not) of the original theory
and arriving at a conclusion.

An example of deductive reasoning can be seen in this set of statements: Every day,
I leave for work in my car at eight o’clock. Every day, the drive to work takes 45
minutes I arrive to work on time. Therefore, if I leave for work at eight o’clock today, I
will be on time.

The deductive statement above is a perfect logical statement, but it does rely on the
initial premise being correct. Perhaps today there is construction on the way to work
and you will end up being late. This is why any hypothesis can never be completely
proved, because there is always the possibility for the initial premise to be wrong.

Inductive Reasoning

Inductive reasoning works the opposite way, moving from specific observations to
broader generalizations and theories. This is sometimes called a “bottom up”
approach. The researcher begins with specific observations and measures, begins to
then detect patterns and regularities, formulate some tentative hypotheses to
explore, and finally ends up developing some general conclusions or theories.

An example of inductive reasoning can be seen in this set of statements: Today, I left
for work at eight o’clock and I arrived on time. Therefore, every day that I leave the
house at eight o’clock, I will arrive to work on time.
While inductive reasoning is commonly used in science, it is not always logically
valid because it is not always accurate to assume that a general principle is correct.
In the example above, perhaps ‘today’ is a weekend with less traffic, so if you left the
house at eight o’clock on a Monday, it would take longer and you would be late for
work. It is illogical to assume an entire premise just because one specific data set
seems to suggest it.

Actual Practice

By nature, inductive reasoning is more open-ended and exploratory, especially

during the early stages. Deductive reasoning is more narrow and is generally used to
test or confirm hypotheses. Most social research, however, involves both inductive
and deductive reasoning throughout the research process. The scientific norm of
logical reasoning provides a two-way bridge between theory and research. In
practice, this typically involves alternating between deduction and induction.

A good example of this is the classic work of Emile Durkheim on suicide. When

Durkheim pored over tables of official statistics on suicide rates in different areas, he
noticed that Protestant countries consistently had higher suicide rates than Catholic
ones. His initial observations led him to inductively create a theory of religion, social
integration, anomie, and suicide. His theoretical interpretations in turn led him to
deductively create more hypotheses and collect more observations.
Recently, a team of researchers used deductive reasoning to hypothesize that, due
to the prevalence of racism in society, race would play a role in shaping how
professors respond to prospective graduate students who express interest in their
research. Click here to read more about this study, and how the researchers put
deductive reasoning to work to prove their hypothesis.

References

Babbie, E. (2001). The Practice of Social Research: 9th Edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thomson.

Shuttleworth, Martyn (2008). Deductive Reasoning. Retrieved November 2011 from Experiment Resources: http://www.experiment-
resources.com/deductive-reasoning.html