Inductive Reasoning

Inductive reasoning is at the center of all scientific advancement. Medical trials, physics experiments, and economic studies are just a few of the instances where inductive reasoning is used to come to reasonable conclusions about how the world works. Although the process has inherent flaws, it is the most used scientific testing system in the world. This entry defines and briefly covers the history of thought associated with inductive reasoning. Subsequent topics include the role of hypothesis testing, the absence of full certainty, the types of testing errors, and the development of regression analysis.

Inductive reasoning is a process that moves from specific observations to general rules. It starts with a series of observations about the world and concludes with some law with which such observations ...