FTCE Professional Education Practice Exam

Which type of reasoning involves drawing general principles from specific examples?

1. Inductive reasoning

2. Deductive reasoning

3. Analogical reasoning

4. Critical reasoning

The correct answer is: Inductive reasoning

Inductive reasoning is the process of deriving general principles from specific observations or examples. This form of reasoning involves looking at particular cases or instances and making broader generalizations based on those cases. For instance, if a student notices that the sun has risen in the east every morning they have observed, they might conclude inductively that the sun always rises in the east. This contrasts with deductive reasoning, which starts with a general principle and applies it to specific cases, and analogical reasoning, which involves drawing comparisons between different situations to infer conclusions. Critical reasoning relates more to the evaluation of arguments and the identification of logical fallacies than to the process of deriving general principles from specific instances. Thus, inductive reasoning is uniquely characterized by this ability to formulate general conclusions based on a limited set of observations.