An inference is a conclusion that you draw about something by using information that you already have about it. There were two inferences to be drawn from her letter. = conclusion
(1) This is an umbrella term referring to a final outcome of a study The outcome may consist of a conclusion about, an understanding of, or an explanation for an event, a behavior, a relationship, or a case (2) This is “a conclusion reached” where there is either (a) a “deduction from premises that are accepted as true” or (b) an induction by “deriving a conclusion from factual statements taken as evidence for the conclusion” (Angeles, 1981, p 133) See also deductive inference (in research cycle), deductive logic, inductive inference (in research cycle), inductive logic, meta-inference (or integrated mixed inference), and retroductive inference Back to the top
a logical conclusion or judgment that is explicitly supported by data, evidence, and information gathered as part of the teacher evaluation process See Data, Evidence, High Inference, Information, Low Inference
the reasoning involved in drawing a conclusion or making a logical judgment on the basis of circumstantial evidence and prior conclusions rather than on the basis of direct observation
An inference is reasoning based on observation and experience To infer is to arrive at a decision or opinion by reasoning from known facts For example, I can see that someone is smiling From this, I can infer from my experience that he is happy It is particularly easy to think that an inference is a fact It takes critical thinking to distinguish between the two In the example of the smiling student, I do not know that the student is happy He may be smiling for some other reason
Inference is the process of automatically adding new facts to a knowledge base by applying rules of inference to the axioms and already-inferred facts of the knowledge base CYC® currently uses two rules of inference in its general theorem proving, modus ponens and modus tollens
The movement of thought to a conclusion or generalization from starting points of premises or particular observations Inferences are generally categorized as either deductive or inductive
A conclusion arrived at from facts and by reasoning Example: If you arrived at a gathering of friends and one of them was sitting in front of a decorated cake and blowing out candles, you would make the inference that it was a birthday celebration and the person celebrating the birthday was the one blowing out the candles
Inference is the act of drawing conclusions about something on the basis of information that you already have. It had an extremely tiny head and, by inference, a tiny brain
A series of wffs or propositions in which some (called premises) support another (called the conclusion); also the act of concluding the conclusion from the premises See conclusion; deduction; derivation; induction; premise; proof
Inductive inferences or inductive generalizations are abstractions or constructs based on information or measurements from a sample or set of direct observations Inductive inferences or generalizations however are no more true or contain no more information than the observations or measures upon which they are based or drawn Deductive inferences are conclusions derived from a set of premises which are usually inductive inferences or generalizations A deductive inference or conclusion draws its truth value from the premises and its validity from the logic/language structure A sound argument is one which is both true and valid A mistaken or false deductive inference or conclusion is often the result of an error in the preliminary reasoning (See logical fallacies )