From the course: Academic Research Foundations: Quantitative

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Deductive and inductive reasoning

Deductive and inductive reasoning - SPSS Statistics Tutorial

From the course: Academic Research Foundations: Quantitative

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Deductive and inductive reasoning

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- In quantitative research, you approach logic through deductive reasoning. This is different from inductive reasoning, which is more exploratory. But understanding one requires you to be aware of how both work and how to best put the powers of each into the right research framework. Research is rarely ever wholly deductive or inductive. Quantitative studies certainly draw heavily from deductive reasoning and qualitative research relies on inductive. But by looking at the two progressions side by side, it is easy to see similarities and even a relationship between the two. For example, an exploratory report on new data related to education and poverty would be well served from an inductive point of view when identifying trends and themes in the statistics. In the development of research instruments and methodologies it is beneficial to begin the process almost as an explorer who will consider available approaches to asking the right questions for the most reliable answers. Deductive…

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