“Will My Research Be Inductive Or Deductive?”

Practically, in all fields of research, proof for a specific situation is not possible; only the scientist makes evidence of that situation and draws inference by Data Collection. Similarly, a hypothesis cannot be shown. Instead, it makes evidence of being right. Now what makes sense is establishing the evidence by inductive and deductive research methods with past data.

Now, let us look at the topic whether my research will be an inductive or deductive or you can say qualitative or quantitative? Well, the answer depends on the objective of the study and the type of research you conduct. If you want to validate an existing or a known theory, then your research is deductive. However, if you’re going to do analytical research or develop a new approach based on the sample data, then it is inductive. In some situation, the study may be both deductive and inductive depending upon the research problem at hand and the complexity of the problem. In this blog, I will explain to you the difference, meaning of inductive and deductive research with examples, and it’s up to you to decide whether your study comes under the inductive or deductive category. The statistical support services offered the inductive research with different types.

Inductive Research

Inductive research makes an inference from the logical facts. For instance, if your friend has good taste in food and recommends a specific recipe for you to try, you may think that the method will be useful to eat (Burns, 2019). In other words, if there is no existing literature related to your study, and you are developing a new theory, then your research is inductive. The main limitation of the Inductive Analysisis that it can invalidate the inference and produce bias.

Inductive research involves the following types,

1. Study by generalization – Here, the conclusion is based on generalization. For example, a crow cannot be white. Therefore, it becomes a generalization of a crow, probably in colour other than white.


2. Research through statistical approach– Conclusions based on the statistics (Onwuegbuzie & Daniel, 2003). Example: statistics say 80% of the crows are black, therefore if you select a random sample of crows then it results in the same conclusion that mostly the crows are black.


3. Research-based on a sample – Conclusions are made on the sample taken. Example: The crows in New Delhi are all black; therefore, the crows in other region are also black.


4. Research-based on analogous – Here, the inference is based on comparable results. Example, imagine you have other bird similar to crow; thus, one can say that all crows are probably black.


5. Research-based on Prediction – Here, we predict the inference through past samples. For example, I went to India last year and noted that all crows are black; therefore if I visit again, probably all crows are still black.


6. Research-based on causal inference – Here, the conclusion is based on casual understanding (Neuman, 2014). Example, you know all crows are black, if you look at some bird in a building and you conclude that it may be a crow.

Inductive research keeps on updating the hypothesis of interest or the probability every-time new inference has been made previously.

Deductive Research

In deductive research, the inference cannot be a false statement concerning the past findings (Sharma, Sengupta, & Panja, 2019). That is, if a fair coin is tossed, the outcome will be either success (head) or failure (tail), and it cannot be inferred partially. In other words, you conduct the research with a known theory, develop a research hypothesis, and test the methods with the data collected for a valid conclusion.

In this type of research, the hypothesis is already framed, and we collect evidence to support the inference. For example, if X is equal to Y, and Z is equal to X, then Z=Y.

Let us consider our crow example; you concluded that all crows are black by taking a sample often. This hypothesis is correct in all situations. Thus, it can also be considered as deductive research. However, the two types of research may be the same except for a few situations, as I mentioned before.

Difference between inductive and deductive research

The main difference between the inductive and deductive research is that deductive research is to test the theory while the inductive research is to generate the new theory from existing data.  Inductive research is qualitative and deductive research is quantitative in nature. However, the study could be a combination of both inductive and deductive. Deductive research is based on known facts, and inductive identifies new patterns. Inductive research lacks the validity of the hypothesis and produces bias, whereas deductive reasoning yields valid and reliable inference.

Inductive research is actually carried out from observation to ideology, whereas deductive research is carried out from ideology to observation. Inductive research generalizes the results, and deductive research provides a specific or empirical result. Data analysis services provide the inductive and deductive researches.

In short, inductive research is said to be an innovation whilst the deductive research is a discovery. Inductive proposes a new theory, and deductive is to test the theories with data (Vázquez-Sánchez et al., 2019). Inductive is an experimental study and deductive is an empirical study.

In conclusion, inductive researches involve seeking new patterns with the observations and make it as a theory and deductive researches involve analysing the data with already proven theory and test the hypotheses of interest. Deductive method of research yields a perfect and valid inference than inductive research.  In addition, both inductive and deductive research can be conducted together for complex datasets. However, inductive research is the most widely used Research Methodology in practice. The key thing is to keep in mind whether selecting the type of research is first to understand the purpose of the research. Identify which method is suitable to test the hypothesis and then draw conclusions based on the research question.