The difference between drawing conclusions and making inferences lies primarily in their purpose and the nature of what is derived from the facts.
While both conclusions and inferences rely on analyzing information and facts, they serve distinct purposes:
- Drawing Conclusions: This involves reaching a final judgment, summary, or decision based on all available evidence, reasoning, and analysis. A conclusion is often the endpoint of an investigation or a line of reasoning. It's what you decide is true overall based on everything you know.
- Making Inferences: According to the provided reference, inferences also rely on facts in a situation, but instead of drawing a conclusion, inferences use facts to determine other facts. You make inferences by examining the facts of a given situation and determining what those facts suggest about the situation. It's about figuring out something that isn't explicitly stated but is strongly implied by the evidence.
Essentially, inferences are steps along the way, using facts to reveal more facts or what facts imply. A conclusion is often the final step, summarizing or judging the situation based on all the facts and inferences made.
Key Distinctions
Here's a breakdown of the primary differences:
| Feature | Drawing Conclusions | Making Inferences |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | To reach a final judgment or summary. | To determine other facts or what facts suggest about a situation. |
| Basis | Uses facts, evidence, and inferences. | Uses facts to derive other facts or implied information (as per reference). |
| Outcome | A final decision, summary, or judgment. | A deduced fact or a likely situation based on existing facts. |
| Relation | Often follows from inferences and analysis. | Can be steps that lead to a conclusion; uses facts to reveal more facts/details. |
Examples
Let's look at a simple scenario:
Imagine you see a friend, Sarah, wearing a rain jacket and carrying an umbrella, and her shoes are a little wet.
- Facts: Sarah is wearing a rain jacket. Sarah is carrying an umbrella. Sarah's shoes are a little wet.
- Inference: Based on the facts (rain jacket, umbrella, wet shoes), you can infer that it has been raining where Sarah was. This inference uses the facts to determine another fact (it rained) or what the facts suggest about the situation. You didn't see it rain, but the facts strongly imply it.
- Conclusion: Based on the facts and your inference (that it rained), you might conclude, "Sarah got caught in the rain on her way here." This is a summary judgment about the overall situation combining the evidence.
In this case, inferring "it has been raining" is a step that helps you reach the conclusion about Sarah's journey.
Inferences as Building Blocks
Often, making several inferences based on different facts helps build a complete picture, which then allows you to draw a well-supported conclusion. Inferences reveal underlying or unstated information, while a conclusion synthesizes all known and inferred information into a final understanding or decision.
