Research Basics
Key Ideas
Key Ideas
Testing Theories: Deductive Reasoning
Because our social world is constantly changing, established theories must be continuously assessed to see if they can stand the test of time. We must ascertain if our theories are still appropriate to explain social phenomena. In order to test theories, we derive hypotheses from theories, frameworks, or past research. This process is called deductive reasoning.
Referring back to the Wheel of Science, after we establish our hypotheses from our theoretical framework or past research, we then proceed to collect data. Our research, our observations, will help us investigate if our hypotheses are supported. Thus, in the deductive reasoning process, we start with a broad theoretical framework and we develop specific hypotheses to examine with our research.
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