Errors in Observation

In Induction, the major premiss is an observation, i.e. the statement of the data collected from a sample. If the major premiss is false, then the data collected is inaccurate. That is, the data does not reflect what is genuinely true of the sample. Such errors might result from experimental conditions that undermine the accuracy of the data: faulty instruments, faulty data-recording, intervening factors, etc. Naturally, if the observations are inaccurate, generalizing upon them is unwarranted.

The fallacies in the Errors in Observation category are...

Tainted Data

Experimenter Bias

Inductive Hyperbole

Ad Ignorantiam (Appeal to Ignorance)

 

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