Abduction, Deduction and Induction: Can These Concepts Be Used for an Understanding of Methodological Processes in Interpretative Case Studies?

Source: International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Volume 27, Issue 3, 2014,
p. 289-307.

This article presents an extended perspective based on Charles Sanders Peirce’s concepts of abduction, deduction and induction.
The author intends to show some of the integral relationships between these concepts which can be relevant for interpretative case studies exemplified by classroom research.

The connections between these concepts and interpretative field research result in two interpretative strategies, illuminated by syllogisms, and named abduction–deduction–induction (A–D–I) and deduction–induction–abduction (D–I–A).