Process 8

from Arons, A. B. (1997), Teaching Introductory Physics (Wiley, New York)

Discriminating between inductive and deductive reasoning; that is, being aware when an argument is being made from the particular to the general or from the general to the particular.

The concepts of "electrical circuit", "electric current", and "resistance" can be induced from very simple observations made with electric batteries and arrangements of flashlight bulbs. This leads to the inductive construction of a "model" of operation of an electric circuit. The model then forms the basis for deductive reasoning, that is, predictions of what will happen to brightness of bulbs in new configurations or when changes (such as short circuiting) are imposed on an existing configuration.

Exactly similar thinking can be developed in connection with economic models or processes. Hypothetico-deductive reasoning is intimately involved in virtually all such instances, but one should always be fully conscious of the distinction between the inductive and the deductive modes.