Scientific Reasoning Forensic Science

The Cycle of Science Scientific reasoning must use both inductive and deductive reasoning

The Cycle of Science (continued) Inductive reasoning – moving from specific observations to broader generalizations and theories Begins with specific observations and measurements Then formulate a hypothesis that can be explored Finally develop some general conclusions or theories

The Cycle of Science (continued) A few episodes of a particular sitcom make you laugh You conclude that the sitcom is very funny.

The Cycle of Science (continued) Deductive reasoning – works from general to specific Begin with creating a theory about a topic of interest Narrow that down into a more specific hypothesis that we can test Narrow that down even further when we collect observations to address the hypothesis Test the hypothesis with specific data

The Cycle of Science (continued) An example of a deductive argument: All men are mortal. Kass is a man. Therefore, Kass is mortal. The first premise states that all objects classified as "men" have the attribute "mortal". The second premise states that "Kass" is classified as a "man" – a member of the set "men". The conclusion then states that "Kass" must be "mortal" because he inherits this attribute from his classification as a "man".

Observation Observations are recorded facts about what you see There are two types of observations Quantitative – results in a numerical form, with a unit Qualitative – results in a descriptive form