Inferential Reasoning: Fact,Inference and Judgement

[pagalneha]

Fact, Inference, Judgment.


FACT.
1. Universal truth
2. Analyzed truth
3. Something which can be verified- abstract things cannot be verified
4. Something which has transpired.

JUDGEMENT
1. Abstract description is a judgment
2. Futuristic prediction.
3. Phrases are judgments.

INFRENCE.
1. For abstract description cause is given
2. reporting of any event is inference.
3. Anything transpiring is inference.
4. “So”, “Thus”, “therefore” characterize some cause but not 100%.

These are some basic rules to check which statement is a fact, inference or a judgment.
Example- sachin is a good cricketer.
This is a judgment not a fact . coz it cud be any sachin. And even if it is given sachin tendulkar it is a judgment.

These type of questions generally do not come in CAT but r common in other exams like IMT etc…….

[meka]

Ppl,

I have been facing a problem in this area for quite some time. I know that most of these questions are solved based on the "key" words..like for inference u have because, due to n stuff like that. I still face problems when it comes to certain sentences which are basically certain observations. For eg:

"Money has always been a fertile ground for family disputes but the financial tensions between the generations are growing more acute than ever."

Now this is just an observation. How do u decide whether this is an iferencial, factual or judgemental one. Please clarify.

Note: Question from one of the FLTs.

Meka.

[Psychodementia]

I think you should not be unduely worried over these kind of questions. They have not been asked in recent years. The reason I suspect they are discontinued is because of the extreme subjectiveness in the questions.

I forgot a lot of razzmatazz that I knew as a faculty a couple of years ago. But here is the thumb-rule :

(1) Fact - Indisputable. Say, Psychodementia posted on the controversial RSTRL thread at 11:59pm yesterday

(2) Inference - Something that can be cleary established with reference to the fact(s) that is/are given. Example, since today morning there have been already 15posts on that RSTRL thread since it was controversial.

(3) Judgement - Something you presume based on circumstances. Example, to say that PsychD's thread caused the furore. Something you cannot substantiate yet could be a possible reason for it.

Actually the example I gave you gives a very feeble insight. There is a lots of theory on weak/strong arguments that go behind it.

Anyways, you come up with an example and I think we can solve it.

Jai Matadi !

Arun

[meka]

PsychoD, sorry Psychodementia...

Thanx for the guidelines am sure they would be of immense help. One more issue i posted an "example" in my previous message and as i see it does not clearly fall under any of the three sub headings coz its an "observation". Something that the author had observed. How would i classify it then? if it had to be a fact, inference or judgement.

Thanx once again,
Meka.

[Psychodementia]

I will tell you something. You are worrying yourself in the wrong direction.

I bet my "family heirlooms" (could have used a more colorful expression though :P) that it is not going to come this year in CAT. So don't worry in this. Worry about something like RC or QA.

Jai Matadi,

Arun

[writetotanveer]

Originally Posted by pagalneha

Fact, Inference, Judgment.

These type of questions generally do not come in CAT but r common in other exams like IMT etc…….

Well....3 years after Neha remarked on this ..It actually happened!!

Regards
Tanveer

p.s Hope to make this thread active and put up resources related specifically to the IFJ type of question of CAT 2006. There is some probability that the type of question might get repeated in 2007. And even if it does not..seems like going forward CAT is stressing on CRITICAL REASONING part. If the mods could move the thread to English Resources ..that would be great!!

[writetotanveer]

Fact, Opinion, Inference
by Richard Grzeskowiak
A fact is a statement that can be verified. It may involve numbers or dates.
The truth of a fact is beyond argument.

Example: There are 24 people registered for English 152, Section 3, this summer.

Example: A football field in the US is 100 yards long.

Example:Helen Hayes, the First Lady of the American Theatre, died on March 17, 1993, at 92 years of age.

Expressions of personal likes or dislikes are erroneously often called opinions.

Example: Dawn feels sports medicine is the field to be in.

Example: I like chicken fat ripple ice cream.

Example: Lisa enjoys jazz more than rock music.

Example: My husband looks great in the nude.


An opinion is an informed judgment based on facts, an honest attempt to draw a reasonable conclusion from evidence.
It is arguable--a contestable statement.

Given the same truthful information, another person may come up with a different conclusion (opinion).

Example:Because the Cold War is over, we should dismantle the US defense forces.

we should scale back the US defense forces.

we can now concentrate on aggressively controlling Third World despots with US defense forces.

An arguable opinion, then, needs

• a thesis statement, a claim, a proposition to be supported, which deals with a matter of probability, not a fact or a matter of taste. [In other words, "What's your point?"]
• an audience to be convinced of the thesis
• grounds, specific reasons, that support the thesis.

Here's a test to see (hear, feel) whether you have an opinion:
"What makes you say (write) that?"
If the answer reverts to "I" something-or-other, then it is not an opinion, but a statement of taste. [And there's no accounting for taste.]
A writer (speaker, doer) implies.
A reader (listener, onlooker) infers.


To imply means

• to convey or communicate not by direct, forthright statement but by allusion or reference likely to lead to natural inference.
• to express indirectly
• to involve or suggest by logical necessity.

["What are you suggesting (implying)?]


To infer means

• to conclude from evidence; deduce
• to have as a logical consequence. (an inference = a conclusion)

Example: I see leaves turning yellow on a small tree. I know it is July 11th in the middle of the summer. It hasn't rained in 2 months. I infer (deduce, conclude) [through inference] that the tree is stressed.
Example: I hear water running in the house.
It's downstairs because I am in the upstairs bathroom. No one else is up yet. I conclude a pipe has burst, or someone is using my water from the hose, or the burglar had to wash her hands.
Then I remember the power outage. Now the running water makes sense because the water softener is out of cycle and using water during the early day instead of the middle of the night.
Basic to interpretation [and thus to research] is inference-making. An inference is a conclusion or judgment which expresses some significant attitude suggested by what is seen, heard, or read. We see the sky clouding up and infer that rain is coming...
Sometimes a single observation may trigger a chain of inferences. Thus Robinson Crusoe saw a footprint and inferred (1) that somebody else was on the island, (2) that there was a possibility of danger from that person, (3) that he should take precautions against that danger. In all such instances the thing observed becomes a sign of something, and the inference interprets that sign.

Fact, Opinion, Inference - KCC Library

[writetotanveer]

Originally Posted by Psychodementia

I will tell you something. You are worrying yourself in the wrong direction.

I bet my "family heirlooms" (could have used a more colorful expression though :P) that it is not going to come this year in CAT. So don't worry in this. Worry about something like RC or QA.

Jai Matadi,

Arun

Arun Sir !!!

Did you make a similar bet for CAT 2006?? .

And what about CAT 2007???

Regards
Tanveer

[rvinodhini]

request u to post some questions for practice..
which would prove much useful

[orchid]

Originally Posted by Psychodementia

I think you should not be unduely worried over these kind of questions. They have not been asked in recent years. The reason I suspect they are discontinued is because of the extreme subjectiveness in the questions.

I forgot a lot of razzmatazz that I knew as a faculty a couple of years ago. But here is the thumb-rule :

(1) Fact - Indisputable. Say, Psychodementia posted on the controversial RSTRL thread at 11:59pm yesterday

(2) Inference - Something that can be cleary established with reference to the fact(s) that is/are given. Example, since today morning there have been already 15posts on that RSTRL thread since it was controversial.

(3) Judgement - Something you presume based on circumstances. Example, to say that PsychD's thread caused the furore. Something you cannot substantiate yet could be a possible reason for it.

Actually the example I gave you gives a very feeble insight. There is a lots of theory on weak/strong arguments that go behind it.

Anyways, you come up with an example and I think we can solve it.

Jai Matadi !

Arun

Hi Arun,

Any more gyan on these types?Really been loosing on these.Appreciate it if some light is thrown in these aspects.

Thanks,
Neelima