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C: The average divorce rate in South Africa during 1984 was higher thanthat in Holland, the USA, and England.In the case of enumerative induction, the conclusion is merely a summary ofthe premisses. Good examples are the numerous public opinion polls that areconducted. If a researcher were interested in determining public opiniontowards abortion, and were to pose the question “What is your attitude towardsabortion?” to a sample of 1 000 people, the following results may have beenobtained: 250 indicated that they were strongly opposed to abortion, 500 wereopposed, 150 were in favour, and 100 were strongly in favour. The followingconclusion could then have been drawn on the basis of the data:C: 25 % of those who were questioned were strongly opposed to abortion,50% were opposed, 15% were in favour, and 10% were strongly infavour.If the researchers were in a position where they could claim that the sample isrepresentative of the population as a whole, they would also be able to claimthat the percentages do not only reflect the attitudes of the sample (descriptivestatistics), but that they represent the attitudes of the total population(inferential statistics). In a case of this nature, the validity of the inference is, toa large extent, dependent upon the representativeness of the sample. This issuewill be dealt with later in the chapter under the heading external validity.Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.zaEXAMPLES OF DEDUCTIONAs we indicated in the preceding section, deductive arguments arecharacterized by the essentially semantic nature of the inferential relationshipbetween the premisses and the conclusion. In other words, the conclusion isbased upon the meanings of the central concepts in the specific statements. Thefollowing is a well-known example:S 1 :S 2 :All humans are mortalSocrates is humanC: Socrates is mortalIn this case S 1 and S 2 are regarded as true by definition, and C necessarilyfollows from the statements. Although it may appear from this example as ifdeductive arguments cannot be of much use in the research process, in view ofthe fact that, strictly speaking, no new knowledge content is transferred to theconclusion in a deductive argument, it will be shown that there is a definitefunction for deductive inference in research.115