Alanis is sitting down after school to examine the research project she has been assigned in her high school history class. She must first research the reasons behind the Great Depression in American history. Then, she must develop assertions concerning the best way to nurture a nation's economy. Which type of thinking has her teacher asked her to engage in?

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Alanis is sitting down after school to examine the research project she has been assigned in her high-school history class. She must first research the reasons behind the Great Depression in American history. Then, she must develop assertions concerning the best way to nurture a nation's economy. Which type of thinking has her teacher asked her to engage in?

A. Inductive reasoning

B. Deductive reasoning

C. Utilizing representativeness heuristics

D. Utilizing availability heuristics

Answer:

The type of thinking she was asked to engage in is:

A. Inductive reasoning.

Explanation:

When we engage in inductive reasoning, we use premises to reach a conclusion. In other words, we use data that we know to be true or false to draw possible conclusions from. In inductive reasoning, there is room for error. That is, even if all the premises are true, the conclusion we reach can very well be false. In the case explained in the passage, Alanis has been asked to research the reasons behind the Great Depression. The reasons will be her premises. From them, she must draw a conclusion - how to nurture a nation's economy. However, even with the right and true premises, Alanis can still come up with ideas that wouldn't really work to nurture the economy. That is an example of inductive reasoning.