Lecture
An experiment cannot confirm the correctness of a theoretical hypothesis by an inductive route, i.e. by extending a conclusion «from the particular to the general».
Inductive laws are used in empirical research at the stage of planning the experiment, when the researcher compares situations involving the introduction of influencing variables, which distinguishes these situations as control and experimental conditions.
The formal planning of experiments is based on inductive principles, but the inductive inference concerns not the content of the hypothesis but the conclusion about the possibility of regarding the IV as the principal condition producing the experimental effect. These principles in inductive logic were developed by J. S. Mill.
He developed schemes of inductive inference. The two best-known schemes:
1) The method of agreement.
If two sets of variables, both including the factor X, produce one and the same effect Y, then it is conditioned by the variable X common to these groups.
2) The method of difference.
If a group of variables produces the effect Y, while the same group without the factor X does not produce Y, then Y is conditioned by X.
The obtained empirical effect is discussed in two stages:
- as the result of the action of the IV on the DV (the general result of the action)
- as an empirical argument within a system of other arguments following from the theoretical consideration of the problem and the analysis of results presented in other works.
Holzkamp: distinguishes two principles of induction, the old and the new.
1) The old one. The obtained sequences of empirical data are the basis for a judgment about the truth of a generalization. Objections: the operations of induction do not belong to the domain of the empirical; it does not follow from reality itself that generalization is possible; having seen what corresponds to the content of the hypothesis, the researcher may fail to see what does not correspond to it.
2) The new one. Carnap’s probabilistic model. Objections: an unknown regularity cannot be represented in a system of assumptions; from the repeatability of events no evaluation of the truth of an understanding follows. Popper: in order to justify the principle of induction, one must introduce the principle of induction.
The hypothetico-deductive route: testing the truth of «universal» (theoretical) generalizations by advancing more particular hypotheses on their basis.
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